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July 12, 2021

Branson Beats Bezos in Billionaire Space Race
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British billionaire Richard Branson rocketed to 53 miles above the Earth
on Sunday in a test flight of his privately funded Virgin Galactic space
plane. Branson's trip above the atmosphere came just days before the
world's richest person - Amazon founder Jeff Bezos - is set to fly to
the edge of space aboard his self-funded New Shepard rocket. This month
Bezos stepped down as Amazon's CEO, in part to focus on his rocket
company, Blue Origin, as it struggles to compete with billionaire Elon
Musk's privately held Space X corporation. In response, Vermont Senator
Bernie Sanders told The New York Times, "You have the richest guys in
the world who are not particularly worried about earth anymore. They're
off in outer space."


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