Sir Richard Branson has said that Virgin Galactic is “weeks” away from its first trip into space.
“We should be in space within weeks, not months. And then we will be in space with myself in months and not years,” the firm’s founder and chief executive told CNBC.
He said the firm would be taking people into space “not too long after” that.
Sir Richard is in a race with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to send the first fee-paying passengers into space.
He founded the commercial spaceflight company in 2004.
The company first promised sub-orbital spaceflight trips for tourists by the start of 2009.
But delays and a fatal crash in 2014 prevented Sir Richard’s original ambitions.
Earlier this year, Virgin Galactic completed a supersonic test flight of its SpaceShip Two passenger rocket ship, its first since the crash.
