Branson got space idea from kids' TV show

Branson got space idea from kids' TV show
By admin


Businessman Sir Richard Branson has admitted he got the idea for his commercial space flight venture during a phone-in on a children's TV show.

The Virgin boss says he first thought about it in 1988 on the BBC Saturday morning show Going Live when someone suggested it during a viewer phone-in.

Appearing on Jonathan Ross's ITV chat show, Branson said: "You never know what sparks things off in your mind but as as result of that show we registered the name Virgin Galactic Airways.

"Over the next decade I started travelling around the world meeting technicians and engineers to see if we could find a genius who could build a spaceship that could take you and me into space."

Sir Richard said the idea was the "beginning of a whole new era of space travel" and was "the most ridiculously exciting thing that I've done in my lifetime".

He added: "If we can get enough people wanting to fly it then we can start building Virgin hotels in space, we can start doing trips to Mars."

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