The billionaire space race is hotting up. Three of the world’s richest tycoons are about to launch a new generation of reusable rockets amid a rivalry that promises to slash space travel costs by more than 90%.
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic appears to be in the lead with plans to test the rockets of his Unity space plane before starting tourist trips next year. Even without his history of overoptimistic forecasts, he faces competition from Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who is building a much bigger space capsule.
Both are vying with Elon Musk, the PayPal and Tesla electric car tycoon, whose SpaceX company plans to take tourists on trips around the moon within two years. All three feature in a BBC documentary,