Richard Branson: Space travel costs will fall from $250,000 a pop
Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson discusses the affordability of space flight, fulfilling people’s dreams.
If you don't have $250,000 to travel with Sir. Richard Branson into space, don't worry because he says the costs will come down just like they did for transatlantic travel years ago.
"The $250,000 is about the same price it cost people to cross the Atlantic 100 years ago," he said during an interview with FOX Business following the initial public offering of his Virgin Galactic, the first space tourism company to become a publically traded company.
The stock lifted off on the New York Stock Exchange, opening at $12.01 a share and settling slightly below that level on Monday.
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| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPCE | VIRGIN GALACTIC HOLDINGS INC. | 6.76 | +0.20 | +2.97% |
Branson also noted that "the rich" tend to pave the way for new frontiers like these, crediting his fellow space billionaires Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who runs Blue Origin and Tesla's Elon Musk who runs SpaceX, for being at this for about 15 years.
Now, investors in his newly public company can do their part.
"Today we can enjoy the public investing in the company which will enable us to expand the company rapidly and bring prices down" he forecasted.
How long can they go? Well in two decades he says travelers will still need some money just a lot less than the going rate.
"If we can get it down to say $30,000 in 20-years, the market is giantic" he predicted.