Richard Branson has always been a fundamentally charismatic character, right from the time he opened up the audaciously good Virgin Records in the early 70s whose highlight was persuading the reclusive genius Mike Oldfield to record his progressive rock masterpiece Tubular Bells, a record that gained cult following over the years and emblazoned him into rock history. Ironically it was a rockstar that stole Branson’s first wife and dissolved a young marriage but it has never dented the visionary spirit of this floppy haired, French bearded, 5 foot 10 inch entrepreneur.
Branson garnered further publicity by landing in the Atlantic ocean in a hot air balloon, an image that sounds absurd when read from the written word but to the eyes, it was nothing short of a spectacle and a luminous time for the company. In today’s news, it tells us that Branson has reached a further level of fame that only few have enjoyed, with his current achievement being that the Virgin Galactic, an established player in the space tourism business and a formidable competitor to SpaceX, brainchild of the eccentric entrepreneur Elon Musk, has taken its first batch of tourists to the edge of space in a recent flight.
Space which has since won over the human imagination in the fateful moon landing year of 1969, no longer retains an invincible status over mankind, rather it is now very much a playground for pioneers, astronauts and entrepreneurs alike. The recipients of this flight, a mother daughter duo and a former 1972 Olympics athlete who waited nearly two decades for this moment are now firmly assured that they too have garnered a rare, much coveted seat in world history just like the man behind it all, Richard Branson.