Chapter 8
To Space—and Beyond
Richard hadn’t taken his first airplane trip until he was in his twenties. But flying had quickly become a huge part of his life. He built one of his most successful companies around airplanes. He won fame for his daring balloon flights. As his wealth grew, Richard looked even higher into the skies. He imagined a day when companies, not governments, would carry passengers into space. He already had a name for his own space-travel company: Virgin Galactic.
Richard talked to different inventors who were building new spacecraft. They hoped to be able to take passengers into the lowest levels of space, about sixty miles above Earth, and return the same day. One of these inventors was Burt Rutan. He designed two vehicles that could one day carry people into space.
The first one was a large plane that carried a smaller aircraft underneath it. Passengers were to sit inside the smaller aircraft, along with one pilot. When the plane reached fifty thousand feet, it released the smaller aircraft, which soared fifty miles above Earth.
Rutan built and tested his first spacecraft in October 2004. Richard then gave Rutan the money to build an even better spacecraft. Virgin Galactic was open for business. Hundreds of people paid $250,000 to reserve a seat on future flights.
Richard was eager to become the first person to fly on Virgin Galactic. But getting into space would take years, as the company tested and retested the new designs of its spacecraft. In the meantime, Richard continued to work with his charities, to start new companies, and to expand existing ones.
Necker Island remained important to Richard and his family. He said it had become “a place where the whole family felt at home and at peace.” Richard taught his children Sam and Holly to play tennis, swim, and sail there. Richard didn’t expect his children to work in the family business. His parents had let him choose his own path in life. But he welcomed Holly and Sam when they became adults and chose to join The Virgin Group on their own.
Given all the good times the Bransons shared at Necker, no one was surprised that Holly planned to have her wedding there in 2011. But before her marriage to Freddy Andrews, lightning sparked a fire in the Branson home. It quickly burned to the ground. Several months later, the wedding went on in front of the burned wreckage, with Richard promising to build a new and even bigger home.
That same year, Richard showed that at sixty-one years old he still had an adventurous streak. He had learned kite-surfing, a sport that combines sailing and surfing. Richard sailed across the English Channel, a distance of about twenty-two miles. He once again set a record, becoming the oldest person to make the channel crossing.
When he isn’t traveling, Richard spends a lot of time at Necker Island. He enjoys writing blogs and posting on Twitter. He is passionate about sharing his ideas on how to become a successful entrepreneur. The different Virgin companies now have more than sixty thousand employees around the world. Richard’s personal fortune has grown to nearly $5 billion. But to Richard, “Business is simply creating something that people want.” All his life, Richard sought out new challenges. Almost always, he succeeded. He keeps looking for them and has plenty of fun along the way.
