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Sir Richard Branson became the first person to blast off in his own spaceship Sunday morning, beating fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos by nine days. Bezos was initially supposed to be the first to do so but Branson quickly moved his mission up in an effort to steal the limelight, which he succeeded in doing.
The mission saw Branson and five crewmates reach an altitude of about 53 miles (88 kilometers) over the New Mexico desert. Here they experienced three to four minutes of weightlessness before gliding back down to Earth. It was enough for the US Government to recognize Branson as the newest astronaut.
“Seventeen years of hard work to get us this far,” a jubilant Branson said as he congratulated his team on the trip back aboard the sleek white space plane, named Unity.
Branson had previously stated, "We are at the vanguard of a new industry determined to pioneer twenty-first century spacecraft, which will open space to everybody — and change the world for good."
Oddsmakers are expected to release prop bets on Bezos outdoing Branson.
Props will include the OVER/UNDER number of minutes spent in space compared to Branson as well as the OVER/UNDER altitude reached.
BetOnline already features a few otherworldly props such as the First Alien Encounter and First Alien Abduction.
In an Instagram post ahead of Branson's historic flight, Bezos wished “the whole team a successful and safe flight”.
Branson intends to begin offering civilian space adventures as soon as next year and the oddsmakers are certain to release odds on the BEFORE/AFTER specified dates this may happen.
Any betting props offered on billionaire space travel would not be complete without a prop involving that other rocket creating billionaire geek Elon Musk. He was in attendance at Branson's mission. Will he be at Bezos' as well?
Expect to see odds on the BEFORE/AFTER specific date of a Bezo-in-space mission as well.
- Jordan Bach, Gambling911.com
