Defiant Sir Richard Branson insists he will be in space 'by spring' after rocket delays

It really is rocket science' notes entrepreneur as he says that Virgin Galactic 'spaceline' has overcome design hold-ups and hopes to stage test flight into space by Christmas

 Defiant Sir Richard Branson insists he will be in space 'by spring' after rocket delays
Defiant Sir Richard Branson insists he will be in space 'by spring' after rocket delays Credit: Photo: Getty Images

Sir Richard Branson has rejected claims by critics after the latest delay in lift-off that his Virgin Galactic commercial spaceship business will never make it off the ground.

In an interview with The Telegraph, the entrepreneur was in typically ebullient mood as he insisted that would be to be aboard the first passenger flight of his new “spaceline” by next spring.

“I know the first question everyone has,” he said as he sat inside dome of the planetarium of the National History Museum in Manhattan. “They want to ask, ‘Richard, when the **** are you going into space?’” But this celestial-inspired location was not as close as he would make it to the stars, he promised, despite major hold-ups in the rocket development for the spaceship.

When Sir Richard founded Virgin Galactic in 2004, he spoke optimistically of taking paying customers into space by 2007. In 2009, his company was talking of flights within two years. And earlier this year, Sir Richard was predicting that he would be on-board the virgin space voyage by the end of this year. However, he recently acknowledged that target had slipped again.

But he told The Telegraph that his engineers have now made the crucial breakthrough on rocket design and test flights were set to resume from the Mojave airbase in California.

Defying pleas from his own senior management team not to announce any more launch schedules, he predicted that the craft would make its first test flight into space before Christmas.

“I’ve joked that this really is rocket science and it’s proven much more difficult than we had ever expected,” he said before joining a panel discussion with fellow innovators staged by the Virgin Disruptors programme on the future of travel.

“The fact is that mothership is working great, the spaceport in New Mexico looks great, but the thing that has held us up is the rockets for the spaceship.

“We have faced a lot of criticism for being late, but we cannot rush these things and we are building a business that is offering return tickets,” he said, putting the emphasis on the word “return”.

“We have to feel completely confident about sending people into space. We’re going to take them up and bring them back.”

When the tests are finally completed, he intends to be the first into space, joined by his son Sam, with next March now the target. His daughter Holly’s plans to accompany them on the ultimate family outing have however been scuppered by the delays as she is now pregnant with twins.

More than 700 customers, including a host of celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Brand and Katy Perry and the scientist Stephen Hawking, have so far put down their deposits on a $250,000 ticket for a two-and-a-half hour voyage that will feature about six minutes of weightlessness just outside the atmosphere, about 60 miles above the Earth.

Sir Richard, who also attended a lavish party to mark a deal with Grey Goose vodka to supply the celebratory cocktails for his customers, noted that he future space tourists were not exercising their contractual right to ask for their money back, despite the delays.

“We’ve had a couple of people who have cancelled as they sadly felt that they would just to be too old by the time we do go into space,” he said.

“But all our astronauts are incredibly enthusiastic and we have had a lot of great events with them along the way.” Speaking at the Virgin Disruptors panel, Sir Richard described how his inspiration for Virgin Galactic was born out of frustration.

“I watched the first moon landing and was excited, I thought Nasa would build spaceships for you and I to go into space,” he said. That did not happen, however, and 35 years later, in 2004, he decided to take matters into his own hands.