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Former Virgin Galactic CEO to fly to space - CNBC

Published 07/23/2021, 04:53 PM
Updated 07/23/2021, 07:05 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Virgin Galactic co-founder Sir Richard Branson, CEO George Whitesides and Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya pose together outside of the New York Stock Exchange n New York, U.S., October 28, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Virgin Galactic co-founder Sir Richard Branson, CEO George Whitesides and Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya pose together outside of the New York Stock Exchange n New York, U.S., October 28, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

(Reuters) - Former chief executive officer of Virgin Galactic Holdings (NYSE:SPCE), George Whitesides, will fly to space on the aerospace company's next test spaceflight, CNBC reported on Friday.

Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of Virgin Galactic, flew to space earlier this month, beating Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)'s Jeff Bezos to the final frontier. Branson announced the news about Whitesides during a party in New Mexico on July 11, following his own spaceflight, the report said.

Lori Garver, a former deputy administrator of NASA was present at the party and told CNBC that Branson said, "George will be leading our next flight." (https://

Branson, whose spaceflight marked a symbolic milestone for the venture he started 17 years ago, touted the mission as a precursor to a new era of space tourism.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Virgin Galactic's CEO George T. Whitesides stands in front of their new spaceship N202VG, which the company began building 2 and a half years ago, in a hangar at Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California November 4, 2014. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Bezos, along with three others including the world's oldest space traveler and astronaut, Wally Funk, flew into space just days later, aboard his own space company Blue Origin's rocket.

Virgin Galactic did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Latest comments

another billionaire with cash destroying the space, not forgeting they already destroy the earth.
spce will go bankrupt soon
Yeah. I can sure identify with these rich folks trying to leave earth.
They should be all arrested by flying to space... that is a crime against wasteful spending when money should be use to treat the problems here on earth first, instead of trying to escape the velocity of the earth problems.
you should be arrested for such a stupide opinion, these guys earned their money they can do wathever the ***** they want with it. period
OMG more rich democrats who pretend to care about climate change having mid-life crises burning tons of rocket fuel just to do pointless suborbital flights. There is literally no utility to these flights except to look down on the earth for a few minutes. Globalist MSM praising it like it is the first moon walk...man literally walked on the moon over 50 years ago, and these guys are circle je.r.king about suborbital flights? It just advertising and showing money/power, nothing else.
Neither Bezos or Branson are democrats. Theres hasnt been a powerful democrat since FDR.
anyone who's rich should be ashamed?
Democrats will be the end of freedom as we know it the love the CCP and tell us we are the reason the planet is dying . Yet the amount of money spent on fuel is more then any of us will spend in out life yet we cause global warmong .. its all democrats scheem to get our money make us all poor and them rich
Are the liberals not gonna flip the ship over billionaires cerbon footprint as they joy ride to the stratosphere?? Really?
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