Richard Branson went into near space and few people cared – reactions to send him into orbit

Richard Branson was even more pleased with himself than usual this week when he blasted into ‘near space’.

The billionaire Virgin founder travelled 53 miles above the Earth in his Virgin Galactic rocket plane, good for him, we suppose.

He appears to be leaving a space race against Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, leaving many to wish they would race to end global poverty.

It is worth reading this FT piece titled “Branson, Bezos and the pointless billionaire space race. Their money would be better spent saving this planet rather than gazing at it from afar.”

Here he is if you are really bothered.

Watch

“To all you kids down there…” – @RichardBranson‘s message from zero gravity. #Unity22

Watch the livestream: https://t.co/5UalYT7Hjb pic.twitter.com/lYXHNsDQcU

— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) July 11, 2021

Reactions

He probably thought he would be heralded as some kind of legendary adventurer, but those on social didn’t seem to share his enthusiasm, to say the least.

1.

I think my favourite thing this week has been Richard Branson going into space and absolutely nobody giving a shit.

— David Whitley (@mrdavidwhitley) July 13, 2021

2.

Congratulations to Richard Branson for being a passenger in a plane that went very high up in the sky for a minute and a half!

— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) July 12, 2021

3.

Branson last year: Yeah, listen I need a couple of billion for my airline cause I’m skint

Branson now: I’m off to space in my rocket ship.
See you later, ya bunch of dicks!

— joe heenan (@joeheenan) July 12, 2021

4.

Hi everyone, some personal news, I’ve recently adopted the opinion that space only starts 100km up at the Kármán line specifically because it means Richard Branson didn’t go to space, but instead merely took an expensive ride in a special plane. Thank you

— Ryan North (@ryanqnorth) July 12, 2021

5.

Hey twitter. before you get mad at Richard Branson (never any nuance on this hell site) remember he was traveling because he was visiting his sick mother who actually lives in space

— jeremy levick (@jeremylevick) July 12, 2021

6.

Billionaire thinks he’s gonna make an intergalactic utopia that’s accessible to everyone? The same one whose train prices make it hard for folks to go to Liverpool? https://t.co/fffx5tSr06

— ???????RAHEEM AND THE LADS ??????? (@SamethyTheThird) July 12, 2021

7.

Somehow, I’d thought Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic would be more high-tech pic.twitter.com/TBcVtLKTvm

— Chris Grey (@chrisgreybrexit) July 11, 2021

8.

What would be really impressive is if Richard Branson was the first Billionaire to go where no Billionaire has gone before – the Tax Office https://t.co/JONGZc8vmu

— nazir afzal (@nazirafzal) July 11, 2021

9.

Congrats to @richardbranson on going to almost-space in a plane, thus adding to the long list of billionaire “achievements” that are really just mediocre versions of much cooler things we already did decades ago through collective endeavor financed by taxes.

— Dan Riffle (@DanRiffle) July 11, 2021

10.

He’s reached maximum twat. pic.twitter.com/xIYiVDOOMa

— Adrian Edmondson (@AdrianEdmondson) July 12, 2021

11.

richard branson just took a plane up higher than planes normally go. fuck off with this “he went to space” stuff

— Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) July 11, 2021

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