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Richard Branson’s Edge of Space Flight - Begrudgery in Action?

JupiterKid

So as many here will be aware, billionaire and self-made business mogul Sir Richard Branson finally and successfully made it to the edge of outer space on his Unity Virgin Galactic vehicle last week. He said it was an amazing experience and wants to open space up to those wishing to pony up a cool €200K for the experience of seeing the blackness of space, the curved Earth below and four minutes of weightlessness.

Personally, I was happy for him - but many others were most certainly not. I posted the story of Branson’s sub-orbital flight up on a Facebook group for gay men over 40 I am a member of - and the anger and vitriol in the comments reserved for Branson, and those other two billionaire space entrepreneurs - Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Elon Musk - were a real eye opener.

I am more than aware that there is horrendous inequality and poverty, wars, Covid, famine etc. in the world, global warming where Europe is currently flooded as America burns - but Richard Branson himself has pledged almost his entire estate to charity when he kicks the bucket, has done good work already in this regard - but no, apparently he still deserves the ire and anger of people for what they see as a massive ego trip and publicity stunt for his Virgin Galactic enterprise.

Yes, I am sure there is truth in some of those criticisms - like how the super rich hardly pay taxes, avail of legal loopholes etc. But I think Sir Richard is trying to make the world a better place and open up space tourism. Maybe I’m not as bitter, jaded and cynical as some.

He also carried a Pride flag on his mission to mark the 5th anniversary of the Orlando gay nightclub massacre - but if anything, that made the men commenting on my post even angrier - saying he was paying “lip service » to LGBT visibility and that he treated his workers like complete dirt.

Real begrudgery in action - and it isn’t just an Irish thing, lads... 😔🙄😏

Your views on the issue? Is that anger and bitterness against Branson really warranted?

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magicbastarder

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117631935#Comment_117631935

accessible to what end? it'll be a pretty **** holiday, albeit one with a nice view.

i wonder if the tour guides will point out the massive fires, without any trace of irony.

[Deleted User]

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117633534#Comment_117633534

There already are vehicles that could have done the same job. It was nothing more than a vanity project.

[Deleted User]

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117633521#Comment_117633521

Check out how much of "his money" was subsidised by tax payers.

BattleCorp

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117622826#Comment_117622826

Did his company not develop a vehicle to put him up in space? That's boundary pushing there. Not Star Trek boundary pushing but it's progress nonetheless.

BattleCorp

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117622793#Comment_117622793

I'd agree with you on many things but not this. It's Branson's money paying for it so why shouldn't he spend his money as he sees fit.

Shebean

Proof that there is such a thing as too much money. His business of course but when you look at it from a moral perspective it's a disgusting vanity project.

The Amazon Rainforest is giving off more CO2 than it takes in. Up to 10 times more in some regions. We have people living and dying on the streets and starving to death. Not Branson's responsibility I know.

There should be a cap on personal profit with allowances or exceptions made on charity and social projects. Excess should be used to help the most vulnerable and tackle climate change. Between his airline and if this becomes a regular thing, how much damage to the environment was required for this?

Branson is doing this for ego and profit. He does not deserve a pat on the head.

breezy1985

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117632909#Comment_117632909

Because it was "meh" compared to actually amazing stuff in the 21st century like landing a robot on a fast moving asteroid

Ultimate Gowlbag

I havent seen the begrudgery others might have,but i was more amused by the fact that it seemed nobody actually cared about the whole thing.....he done this supposedly amazing thing and it seems the world just said "meh"!

JP Liz V1

Space Monkeys

Macy0161

Most of the criticism of Branson I've seen has been pointing out that he was funding this, while calling* for State Aid for various other parts of his "empire". Bezos gets the same regarding the tax avoidance/ tax position his company takes. I personally wouldn't call either begrudgery, more calling out the juxtaposition/ hypocrisy.

*which he did from his Private Caribbean Island.

Drexel_3

I look at it this way. The more people / companies flying to space the more accessible it will become.

breezy1985

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117631770#Comment_117631770

I don't know you seem to be getting pretty bothered about any criticism of him. It comes across as being beyond just disagreeing about his endeavors.

As for space flight I have been crazy about it ever since I was a child and watch all the actual exploration done by the likes of Cassini, Rosetta and the Mars rovers.

What Branson done was not exploration as he did not explore anything or go anywhere new. Its like saying I should be praised on high for going to Paris for a weekend. Ide probably do what he done if I had the money but why you or anyone else gets so excited and reverential about it I'll never understand

magicbastarder

i don't think anyone has made that argument here. and i don't think anyone here will be saying the same thing about, say, the launch of the james webb telescope when that goes ahead (hopefully later this year), as they are saying about branson.

the aim of what branson is doing is to facilitate space tourism; it's not about exploration, not about science or knowledge. it's about giving the ultra rich an opportunity to spend a literal shed load of money so they can have a nice view.

JupiterKid

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117631720#Comment_117631720

No, I don't fawn over Richard Branson, Elon Musk or any other billionaire space adventurers. They are flawed individuals just like you and me. But unlike you or me, being rich, they have the means to follow their ambitious dreams. The sheer extent of their wealth does bother me as the gap between the ultra-rich and everyone else widens further - but that is neo-libersal capitalism and how it works. I just think that they don't deserve all the scorn and criticism they get from naysayers - they are trying to do something that will ultimately be beneficial for humankind.

And I'm pretty sick and tired of that old chestnut "we shouldn't explore space, under the oceans etc. because of all the problems on Earth etc." - if we all held that view, nothing much would progress and we'd stay in our caves, fearing our own shadows.

breezy1985

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117631142#Comment_117631142

I really don't have a problem with Branson or John or whoever spending money how they like.

What I find really weird is how people like yourself obsess and idolise these billionaires. The worst at the moment is Musk the way some people fawn over everything he says and does but the craziest one of all was Jobs. The hero worship of Jobs was essentially a cult with his special uniform people swallowing every word especially at those big church cult press releases he used do

Capt'n Midnight

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117630001#Comment_117630001

Outer space ?

Dennis Tito went to the ISS for 8 days of weightlessness back on April 28, 2001. Sub orbital flights with a few minutes zero gravity don't really count.

magicbastarder

"Virgin Galactic moved into its facilities in New Mexico in May 2019 after years of delay. The glitzy building, called Spaceport America, was paid for with more than $200 million in mostly taxpayer money"

branson seems to have form in making money from the public purse. (the article below is not the one containing the quote above, which was posted earlier in the thread)

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/10/truth-richard-branson-virgin-rail-profits

Mr_Muffin

His money. He can do what he pleases with it.

silverharp

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117631192#Comment_117631192

you mean like the first commercial airlines in the 20's and 30's

whisky_galore

Not begrudgery, I'm sure there's far more worthy things you could be doing with a sh1t ton of money than a boys-with-toys dick measuring contest and opening up space to (of course) the super-rich.

magicbastarder

classic irish response - when others disagree with you, claim it's begrudgery.

JupiterKid

Looks like many on this forum share the same opinions of those who responded to my post on FB last week. There always has been, and always will be the politics of envy. Some people always see the negative in everything and have little good to say about anything and anyone.

The rich and the famous get a lot of criticism and flak for doing things in a public way - some of it perhaps deserved, some not IMO like Branson's flight. I recall years ago an interviewer asking Elton John about the 'outrageous' bill for fresh flowers he'd had delivered to his UK home - it had been all over the red top tabloids that were screaming indignation. He came straight back that he could spend his money how he pleased but those sneering should remember that his £500K kept a lotof florists and gardeners busy

Building an ocean going yacht a metre longer than your nearest rival billionaire keeps a lot of people in work, and they are mostly good jobs. Yes, the planet is in a pickle entirely of our own making - but how many of those Branson naysayers could genuinely claim to never ever be frivolous with their disposable income?

Hypocrites methinks.

magicbastarder

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117624439#Comment_117624439

first paragraph, i don't think anyone is disputing that.

second paragraph, you don't know that.

and also, it's like saying 'you can't have an opinion on an epidemic of gun crime unless you can field strip an M-16'. what he's doing is helping to feed the egos of the ultra rich.

Dr. Bre

Stay at home Richard

JupiterKid

Well, it seems like there are a few very valid concerns around the flight - but I believe this is more part of a wider push to open outer space to tourism than a simple vanity exercise for Branson, Musk and Bezos.

Sure there is some competition and one-upmanship between the three of them, but the history of space exploration has shown us that competition boosts innovation and taking risks to advance human spaceflight.

And Wally Funk is going up on Tuesday. 👍👍😎

Would you go up there if you got the chance?

[Deleted User]

Pics of him standing up in the ship with a model in his arms and the earth visible in the background or it never happened.

AllForIt

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117624383#Comment_117624383

Apparently flight travel can be a lot quicker by going straight up and down, rather than the more linear fashion it's done now. That can't be done with regular 747's and thus a redesign is necessary. Perhaps his work will help in that regard.

Capt'n Midnight

Branson the shameless self promoter pipped him to the post.

New Glenn and the BE4 engine still haven't flown never mind made it to orbit reliably. Nothing to show for how deep Bezos' snout has been in the trough. Main contribution to the space race is lawsuits against NASA funding others.

He's even using other people's rockets to launch his satellites. Branson has put stuff in orbit.

In this competition Bezos is the one with an "*" beside his name.

BTW first civilian flight above 50 miles in a reusable craft was 17/1/63 by Joseph A. Walker in an X15.

Bezos will have one record "the world's first unpiloted suborbital flight with an all-civilian crew" ie they are going as Payload

greenpilot

Firstly. I think the engineering team are to be applauded for their skills and ingenuity in applying current tech to try to push the boundaries of what a private company can achieve.

Secondly, most of the negative comments come from folks who have zero interest in Spaceflight, engineering or aeronautics. Let them off. Ignorance is bliss.

If it takes the drive of a few egotistical billionaires to push the technology of Rocket Engineering and orbital/suborbital flight, then great!

Christy42

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117624348#Comment_117624348

What did he invent? They were trying to invent a flying machine. Branson isn't trying to invent anything. We have had people in space for the last 60 years. He didn't even come close to ISS so what did he do that was unique?

There are a lot of benefits to space travel. Branson's little jaunt is not one of them. Curious how much tax payer money his company brought in in covid relief schemes as well. Would this have been possible without public funding going to his companies I wonder.

Same for Bezos. He is entirely funded off of abusing his workforce.