70-year-old British billionaire Richard Branson made a suborbital flight on the manned VSS Unity spaceplane, owned by his company Virgin Galactic.

The spacecraft reached an altitude of 86.1 km and returned to the launch site - to the America cosmodrome in the state of New Mexico.

After more than 16 years of research, development and testing, Branson said Virgin Galactic is at the forefront of a new commercial space industry that he says should open space to humanity and change the world forever.

“We want to make space more accessible to everyone in every way,” Branson said after the flight.

"The goal of our mission ... was to make the dream of space travel a reality for both my grandchildren ... and for many of those who live in our world today, for everyone."

In 2022, Branson plans to begin commercial operation of his spacecraft.

In an interview with RT, the head of the Institute of Space Policy, Ivan Moiseev, called Branson's flight "the beginning of an active era of suborbital tourism," but mentioned that there was no breakthrough in space technology:

“The breakthroughs here are, rather, in the organization of space work and in drawing widespread attention to this issue,” Ivan Moiseev noted.

Space Race

According to Time, the original space travel was to be made by the Blue Origins ship of former Amazon owner Jeff Bezos.

The suborbital flight of the New Shephard is scheduled for July 20.

Branson clarified in an interview with NBC that they have no competition with Bezos.

However, Bezos's company has already criticized VSS Unity and discovered flaws in Branson's ship.

Blue Origins even posted a spreadsheet on Twitter comparing the capabilities of the two spacecraft.

So, it is noted that New Shephard is able to overcome an altitude of 100 km (the Karman line, which is considered to be the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and space).

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In turn, the owner of SpaceX Elon Musk supported Richard Branson.

On the eve of the flight, he visited the house of his "colleague".

Moreover, Musk bought a ticket for a future Virgin Galactic flight.

Donald Trump also drew attention to Branson's space travel.

In an interview with Fox News, the former White House chief said he "gave the opportunity" to billionaires to try to reach space and commercialize the industry.

Trump recalled that breakthroughs in space travel were made after his revival of the NASA space agency and the creation of the Space Force, which appeared during his presidency.

Trump also noted that big businessmen have always been interested in space.

“Many rich people love space.

Someday there will be an explanation for this.

But they love space ... ”- said Trump.

  • Donald Trump

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  • © Kevin Lamarque

However, Ivan Moiseev recalls that private space travel was supported by the US government before Trump.

“Even during the reign of George W. Bush, NASA decided to actively promote the development of private astronautics and attract new players - billionaires.

It was a very successful project.

Trump's role is that he actively participated in its development. "

The general director also gave his assessment of the suborbital flight

Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin.

“We can agree with the assertion of a number of experts that suborbital flight has nothing to do with professional cosmonautics, but, nevertheless, it is a landmark event in terms of both the development of technology and the expansion of humanity's ability to look at our planet from space,” he said on your Twitter page.

  • Rocket Landing New Shepard

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Rogozin also added that Russian billionaire oligarchs should not spend money on "yachts and vanity fairs," but contribute to the development of space technology and knowledge about space.

Private sector

Experts believe that the billionaires who are now spending money on space tourism and space travel could, together, contribute to the development of space research and vital space projects.

“I think all these people grew up in market conditions.

Probably, they can unite, but for this there must be some challenges, the solution of which would require more joint forces.

For example, this is a Mars flight or an asteroid hazard.

In other cases, they will act in accordance with the laws of the market.

For example, Bezos and Branson are competitors - one has rocket systems, the other has cruise systems, ”said Sergei Zhukov, president of the Moscow space club, in an interview with RT.

  • Elon Musk

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  • © Steve Nesius

At the same time, as Ivan Moiseyev explained, the state has its own interests in the space sphere, and it does not always invest in those areas that attract “private traders”, or these areas are closed for private investment.

“In the federal space program, the priorities are set so that, first of all, these are satellites that bring economic benefits, satellites for remote sensing of the Earth, communication satellites.

Then the manned program, which we spend the most money on, and the science program.

In all these areas, money is spent by the state, private firms do not spend a penny, ”the analyst said in a commentary on RT.

Experts also recalled the development of space tourism in Russia, which can become a lucrative source of income for the state and a source of funds for the development of space programs.

As the CEO of Glavkosmos, Dmitry Loskutov, stated earlier in an interview with RT, a chair on Russian ships that deliver space tourists to the ISS costs about $ 55 million.

Asteroid threat

According to experts, one of the space areas where billionaires who “adore space” could invest funds is protecting the Earth from asteroids.

According to Nathan Eismont, a leading researcher at the Institute of Space Research (IKI RAS), research in the field of combating the asteroid threat "has been conducted since the beginning of this millennium."

“The start of such activities and the attraction of attention to this problem happened due to the fact that the asteroid Apophis was discovered in 2004, according to initial estimates, it turned out that this asteroid could collide with the Earth with catastrophic consequences.

Since the likelihood of a collision was not clear, everyone who was related to space took up this problem: they began to carefully observe the asteroids, suggest various ways to avoid a collision, "the expert said in an interview with RT.

One of these programs was proposed by Chinese scientists.

They published a study where they consider, using the example of the asteroid Bennu, how you can change the trajectory of these celestial bodies.

To do this, they decided to use modified heavy media.

It is reported that thanks to the launch of 23 Long March 5 rockets, it is possible to save the Earth from a collision with an asteroid.

According to scientists, a meeting with such a celestial body "poses a serious threat to all life on Earth."

"The deflection of the asteroid from the collision path is critical to mitigating this threat," the study said.

As noted by Chinese scientists, the use of the so-called "kinetic striker" in rockets remains the most realistic way to deflect asteroids.

However, experts argue that one country will not be able to simultaneously launch all 23 Long March 5 rockets at once. Such a space operation will require the efforts of a number of space powers.

As Eismont notes, such international cooperation that would "practically deal with space problems" would be extremely useful.

“A special subcommittee on the peaceful uses of outer space within the UN is dealing with the problem of asteroid hazard.

But this structure does not allow to move to the practical plane of preventing the danger that threatens the Earth.

This is not a threat looming over us right now, but given our current knowledge, there are some asteroids that are potentially a threat.

It is better to deal with this problem now, before it is too late, ”the analyst concluded.