there is also supplemental oxygen on board. the pilots during the flights, they wear oxygen masks. but the passengers, they don t have to, although they do have supplemental oxygen by their side if need be. also i had the opportunity to speak to mike moses a few days ago who is their head of safety, and he told me also in case of cabin depressurization, if there is a leak on board, they have four times the oxygen needed to keep the spaceship pressurized and make sure that this crew and the space flight participants stay safe. again, important to remember that despite the spectacle around us, it is still a test flight. the company is still in the test phases gathering data. and richard branson, his objective here is to test the astronaut experience. he s really been taking notes as he s gone through his training the last through days at spaceport america what he wants this to be like for those 600 passengers who have paid around
but it is certainly not a rest day here at space port america and richard branson, his objective on this flight is to test the astronaut experience, and nobody is more excited about that than branson himself. take a listen to what he had to say. i m going up in a as someone there to test the customer experience p.m. i m going to enjoy every second from the beginning to the end. reporter: victor, currently around 600 people have already put down deposits of around $200,000 to hitch a ride on this rocket powered space plane. virgin galactic saying commercial operations should begin in the beginning of 2022. do you have any interest in doing that, victor? i d do it, yeah.
accelerated time line and nobody is more excited about this than richard branson himself. take a listen to what he had to say. i m going up in, as some, to test the customer experience. and i m just going to enjoy every single minute of it. it is something that, i think, millions an millions out there would want to take my seat. and i m going to enjoy every second from the beginning to the end. jim, branson went on to even invite jeff bezos to this upcoming space flight scheduled for this sunday. now, branson s objective on this flight is to test the astronaut experience and a large part of that is the training. that is what richard branson has been doing the last few days here at space port america, taking notes on things that future astronauts, there are 600 that have signed up for that
the launch on sunday. now of course it remains to be if jeff bezos will be present. i have a feeling he is very busy preparing for his own suborbital space flight scheduled for july 20th, the 52nd anniversary of the moon landing. so a lot of exciting stuff happening in the space community in the next few days. now here at space port america, richard branson has been putting himself through the paces of the astronaut training program because his objective on this space flight is to test the astronaut experience. of course, that experience begins before they enter into the cabin. they need to be of course briefed on all of the safety protocols of the spaceship and know what to expect. that is what he s been doing. today is his down day and with family and friends enjoying this moment, soaking it all in before the world gets to watch this incredible journey scheduled for sunday. boris. rachel crane reporting from
spacex. maybe it s not him going back and forth to the space station. he will do that later this year. with bezos, he says our windows are bigger, we re going longer and higher. branson will be first. one of six seats. he owns the things. he s going 50 miles above the earth and sunday hosted by stephen colbert and streamed. it will start on a plane, propel off of that into the upper echelons of space. trace: richard branson says i m itching to go and they wanted somebody to properly test the astronaut experience and i was damned if i was going to let anybody else take that seat. for virgin galactic, space tourism is their future. no doubt. they think they can get 250,000 per seat. they said in ten years this could be a $4 billion industry. once the 70-year-old owner goes up there, that will give the go