Branson has managed to waste an astonishing amount of Other Peoples’ Money on his space ventures. I weep when I think of what could have been done for just a fraction of it if it had gone to something sensible. For example, Lynx could have flown.
Of course, Stratolaunch was a boondoggle as well, which also never made any sense. Air launch is a niche market for people who want mission flexibility and single-orbit rendezvous, and there weren’t enough of those people to sustain that costly infrastructure.
Yes, I always get annoyed at the comparisons between Musk and Bezos, let alone by either of them with Branson, who has wasted vast amounts of other peoples’ money with not much to show for it or any hope of getting much of it back.
[Tuesday-morning update]
I’m finally getting around to reading the whole thing. I found this amusing: “In the future, Virgin Galactic aims to use its advanced technologies to manufacture aircraft capable of high-speed point-to-point travel. High-speed aircraft are capable of traveling faster than the speed of sound. A significant market opportunity exists for vehicles with this capability, as they could drastically reduce international travel times.”
Ed Driscoll reviews a new documentary about Apollo 8.
That event, not Apollo 11, is when we won the race, because the Soviets quietly threw in the towel at that point, pretending that they’d never been racing.
My biggest fear is that if they can’t play in the sandbox, they’ll crap in it, which they are perfectly capable of doing. It’s always much easier to destroy than create, which is what they’ve been doing in Ukraine.