Branson's maiden voyage: Libertex adds Virgin Galactic!

Ever since the first manned missions to space almost three-quarters of a century ago, people everywhere have looked up at the night sky and dreamed of going up there themselves at one time or another in their lives. One such dreamer was the British billionaire Richard Branson, and thanks to him and his commercial aerospace company Virgin Galactic, this could now be a real possibility for many of us living today.

After decades in the making, Branson has finally snatched space travel from the coveted preserve of NASA’s elite astronauts. The world was waiting with bated breath for the launch of Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane VSS Unity, which successfully run its first suborbital flight on 11 July in the company’s highest-profile event since its creation in 2004. In addition to Branson, the debut flight crew consisted of various senior members of the Virgin Galactic team. Despite this only being a test mission, over 750 people are reported to have signed up for future VG flights, paying up to $250,000 apiece for the privilege.

However, Branson isn’t the only billionaire who’s set his sights on the great expanse above. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his space tourism company Blue Origin are also scheduled to run their own crewed flight 9 days later, on 20 July, the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landings. Branson insists that there is no competition between the two celebrity CEOs and stresses that the commercial space flight market is big enough for multiple participants. Irrespective of who goes first, Bezos is still tipped to fly higher than Branson; the Amazon founder’s New Shepard vessel reached altitudes over 100 km in pre-flight testing.

Regardless of whether you’re Team Branson or Team Bezos, the potential boon for Virgin Galactic and Amazon is huge, with these companies’ share prices expected to explode over the coming weeks and months. Luckily for Libertex clients, we’ve added Virgin Galactic stock to our instrument offering just in time for you to take advantage of this momentous occasion. You’ll be able to buy or sell Virgin Galactic CFDs with the same multiplier opportunities and commission as other major shares from 12 July. Meanwhile, Amazon remains available as always, so you can either hedge your bets or go all-in on either Jeff or Richard.