Out of this world: Sir Richard Branson
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic will charge customers £324,000 to fly into space.
The reopening of ticket sales comes as the company looks to cash in on the success of last month’s fully crewed test flight.
The figure is £143,000 more than the company was charging in 2014 before it suspended sales after the crash of its first space plane, VSS Enterprise, during a test flight.
About 600 people have tickets from the earlier round of sales.
‘We are excited to announce the reopening of sales effective today,’ said chief executive Michael Colglazier. ‘We are delighted to open the door to an entirely new industry and consumer experience.’
On July 11, Branson beat Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos to space in a battle between the billionaires.
Amazon founder Bezos achieved the feat nine days later.
Customers can buy a single seat; multi-seats for couples, friends or family; and a full-flight buyout.
Virgin’s space experience involves an air-launched spaceplane, VSS Unity, that takes off attached to the belly of a massive carrier plane from a runway at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
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