A smiling Richard Branson was pictured ahead of his historic flight today with space race 'foe' Elon Musk today as the pair's rivalry appeared to take a friendly turn.
Both Musk, 50 and Sir Richard, 70, were snapped ahead of the British billionaire's ground-breaking journey to space alongside the message: 'Big day ahead. Great to start the morning with a friend.'
The pair, alongside Jeff Bezos, have been embroiled in a bitter battle in recent years to become the first to reach the stars with his own commercial spacecraft.
But Amazon founder Bezos, who was anticipated to win the space race before being pipped by Sir Richard by just nine days, has taken a back seat and has not commented.
The billionaire trio, with a combined net worth exceeding $380 billion (£274bn), have poured their near limitless resources into their respective space start-ups in the hopes of revolutionising aerospace journeys.
Both Musk, 50 and Sir Richard, 70, were snapped ahead of the British billionaire's ground-breaking journey to space alongside the message: 'Big day ahead. Great to start the morning with a friend.'
Pictured: The Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo space plane Unity flies at Spaceport America, near Truth and Consequences, New Mexico on July 11, 2021 before travel to the cosmos with Sir Richard Branson onboard with five other crew members
Sir Richard Branson has become the first billionaire to make it into space after the Virgin Galactic founder took off on a flight to the edge of earth's atmosphere in the VSS Unity plane
Mr Musk, the owner of Tesla and SpaceX, has already put down his own $10,000 deposit for a future Virgin Galactic trip, reports the Sunday Times.
And he tweeted his support for Sir Richard's memorable launch day earlier this week, commenting: 'Will see you there to wish you the best.'
Sir Richard soon posted a light-hearted reply that read: 'Thanks for being so typically supportive and such a good friend, Elon. Great to be opening up space for all - safe travels and see you at Spaceport America!'
Although the pair form part of a three-way billionaire space race with Jeff Bezos, both Musk and Branson appear in good spirits, with Musk posing for a picture with the British entrepreneur before his historic space mission.
Sir Richard explained: 'Elon’s a friend and maybe I’ll travel on one of his ships one day.'
Sir Richard Branson (left) became the first billionaire to leave earth in a rocket today as he joined the crew of Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity
The Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo space plane Unity flies at Spaceport America before travel to the cosmos
Spectators cheers as the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo space plane Unity takes off at Spaceport America this afternoon
Sir Richard Branson today became the first billionaire to make it into space on his own commercial spacecraft after the Virgin Galactic founder took off on a flight to the edge of earth's atmosphere in the VSS Unity plane in New Mexico.
Sir Richard told reporters before the historic take-off that he has 'dreamt of this moment since I was a kid'.
The British billionaire beat out 'rivals' Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk with the record-breaking stunt, which played out as millions watched on a live stream from around the globe.
The 70-year-old, who was pictured cycling to the facility this morning where he was greeted by his crew mates, is the second oldest person to travel to space after 77-year-old John Glenn in 1998.
The billionaire entrepreneur told the Times earlier today the view alone will be worth the billion pounds he has spent on the project and added: 'I think it's one of the reasons that people want to become astronauts. They want to look back at this beautiful Earth.
Sir Richard, 70, flew to the space - nine days before 'rival' Jeff Bezos - on a craft built by his own company after declaring it is 'time to turn my dream into reality'.
Tesla and SpaceX founder Mr Musk was pictured on social media cheering on his space race rival Sir Richard Branson before the historic launch today.
But Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is yet to provide a public comment on the news.
It comes after the trio of billionaires have been embroiled in a furious battle in recent years to become the first to reach the stars with his own commercial spacecraft.
Sir Richard, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are all part of what is being dubbed the 'NewSpace' set.
The group have all said that they were inspired by the first moon landing in 1969, when the US beat the Soviet Union in the space race, and had previously said how much it would mean for each to win the 'new space race'.
Although SpaceX and Tesla founder Musk has said he wants to go into space, and even 'die on Mars', he has not said when he might blast into orbit.
Amazon founder Bezos had looked set to be the first of the three to fly to space - having announced plans to launch aboard his space company Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft on July 20.
But Branson later revealed his suborbital flight was planned nine days before Bezos.
The London-born founder of the Virgin Group wasn't supposed to fly until later this summer.
But he assigned himself to an earlier flight after Blue Origin's Jeff Bezos announced plans to ride his own rocket into space from West Texas on July 20.
Virgin Galactic doesn't expect to start flying customers before next year. Blue Origin has yet to open ticket sales or even announce prices, but late last week boasted via Twitter that it would take clients higher and offer bigger windows.
Unlike Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX, which launch capsules atop reusable booster
