Technology

Richard Branson says Virgin Galactic should be in space by December

A preview of our full interview with Richard Branson, available in the current issue of British GQ
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Three years after its spaceship exploded in a tragic accident, Virgin Galactic has regrouped. In the current issue of GQ, Charlie Burton goes behind the scenes as the company gears up to fulfil the dreams of a generation of would-be astronauts.

The feature (Update: you can now read it in full) includes an exclusive interview with Sir Richard Branson. Here's a preview...

On when he hopes to go to space

"I certainly would be very disappointed if I don't go up next year. And I would hope it's earlier than later in the year," he says. "The programme says that we should be [testing] in space by December, as long as we don't have any setbacks between now and then."

On whether he still plans to bring his children on his first space flight

"Both my children have now got young children, two lots of two-year-olds, so I think I would most likely choose to do it myself initially."

On whether Virgin Galactic would continue if there were a second crash

"That was the most difficult conversation that George [Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic] and I had with each other the day after the last accident. We can't guarantee that there won't be another one, and we can't guarantee that the next one won't be technical. What would we do if that happened? How would we all feel?" says Branson. "We'd have to look at what had gone wrong and then decide at the time. But I'm not one for giving up. In my ballooning adventures we had many catastrophes but we kept pushing on. So my instinct would be that, whatever happens, we'll carry on until we succeed."

Read the full feature in the July 2017 issue of GQ, out now

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