Jeff Bezos is in a fight of his life, and no, I’m not talking about the divorce. Blue Origin, his space company is in a race with Virgin Galactic to be the first company to break ground on space terrorism. Both are currently already selling tickets for trips to space. Even more, they both have inaugural launches planned for 2019.
Blue Origin revealed its plans to send tourists into orbit by the end of the year during the launch of the tenth mission for the New Shepard capsule, while Virgin Galactic has been saying it will ever since its spacecraft, VSS Unity, reached the edge of space for the first time in mid-December.
The first tourist to go up in the Unity will be the company’s own leader, Richard Branson, and he’ll be wearing a spacesuit manufactured by American apparel behemoth Under Armour.
ALSO READ: Branson sells Virgin America to Alaska Airlines for $2.6bn
In a statement released on Thursday, Virgin Galactic said Under Armour has been tasked with creating the space wear needed for the company’s passengers and pilots. No details were provided on the materials and design of the spacesuits, but Virgin did say all will be revealed ‘ahead of Richard Branson’s inaugural commercial flight.’
The apparel manufacturer will also be tasked with designing uniforms of sorts for the Virgin Galactic employees, from engineers to hosts, working at Spaceport America in New Mexico. That decision is at odds with Branson’s track record of unconventional leader.
Back in 2017, the man wrote on his blog, speaking about the work environment within the Virgin Group that ‘everyone is encouraged to wear what they think will help them to work most productively.’
Back to Under Armour, the company will not be in charge solely with designing and producing clothes for Virgin Galactic. Branson has also tasked his new partner with the creation of physical preparation programs for the astronauts.
No details about this program were announced at this time.
