More than half a century after the U.S. and Russia faced off to land the first man on the moon, there’s a new kind of Space Race on the horizon—and it’s heating up.
As Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin contends with a mishap on an uncrewed 2022 New Shepard flight that has sidelined commercial operations until later this year, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic on Thursday announced it’s gearing up for its first commercial spaceflight later this month. The mission, “Galactic 01,” is slated to carry three crew members of Italy’s Air Force and National Research Council into orbit between June 27 and 30.
