ABC News has released details of the HBO series starring British businessman Richard Branson, detailing the life and work of the billionaire founder of the Virgin Group, known for his passion for business, high-stakes adventures and philanthropic endeavors. .
“Branson,” the docuseries, delves into the 72-year-old visionary’s latest venture into private space travel with his company, Virgin Galactic. Branson along with three other passengers and two pilots on board flew last year and had the luxury of beating Jeff Bezos as the first man to go into space with a spacecraft from his own company.
“It has been magical,” confessed the millionaire from the runway of the Spaceport America base, after an hour’s journey aboard the VSS Unity plane that crossed 50 miles (80 km) high.
“I have dreamed of this moment since I was a child, but nothing had prepared me to have a view of Earth from space,” the businessman acknowledged before journalists and members of Virgin Galactic, the firm he founded in 2004 to carry out commercial flights. space.
“I was very lucky to have been on that first flight. It was 17 years of hard work that led us to that day. And obviously, the final episode, I think it illustrates all the ups and downs and the heartaches and the joy at the end of finally getting to space,” Branson told ABC News.
At that time, Branson’s responsibility was to evaluate firsthand the experience of the private astronaut, to prepare and send hundreds of clients who want to live the same adventure in the near future.
“As for the future, you know, next year, which is fast approaching, we’ll start to put the 800 people who signed up to go into space, and I think they’ll have the same amazing day,” the Virgin Galactic CEO said.
The Branson company’s mission is to “democratize space” and increase accessibility, with tickets on sale for $450,000 for a 90-minute ride.
Chris Smith, the director of “Branson,” has been an executive producer on “Tiger King” and the director of the Netflix documentary “Fyre Festival,” and says he wanted to go beyond the headlines while documenting the lead up to the historic flight.
“There was a lot of news coverage around the time of space flight that I think was very reductionist, and it was, including myself, just out of ignorance of understanding the journey that 17 year olds were and what happened with this team of amazing people who tried to make this happen,” Smith said.
The series features Branson’s space travel footage as well as Virgin Galactic archive footage from its inception in 2004. The finale of the four-part documentary aired a few days ago on HBO.
Branson explains that although the trips to space by entrepreneurs like him, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have been considered by some as frivolous, their value lies in the fact that they have managed to reduce both economic and environmental costs, in addition to the fact that more and more people have the opportunity to appreciate the beautiful image of the Earth seen from space.
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