More than 700 people – including Hollywood A-listers Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt – have bought tickets for Virgin Galactic space voyage flights, which sell at $250,000
Dozens of the wealthy investors who signed up to be among the first space tourists with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic programme are considering giving up their tickets.
Following the crash of SpaceShipTwo in California’s Mojave desert on Friday that killed one pilot and left another in hospital, there have been reports that a number of Branson’s ‘future astronauts’ are pulling out.
Peter Ulrich von May, an asset manager based in Switzerland, told The Independent that he no longer wishes to travel into space with Virgin Galactic and he has demanded his money back.
He said: ‘I want out. I subscribed seven years ago at 63, am still an active private pilot and in good health but who knows how long it will now take. I have already informed VG of my wish – no reply yet.’
The Daily Mail reported two days ago that one of the programme’s most high-profile customers Princess Beatrice will not be boarding the Virgin Galactic spacecraft after the disaster last week.
‘Beatrice was excited by the idea of space tourism, but there is no way she will be going on one of the flights, if they are ever allowed to take place,’ a source close to Buckingham Palace revealed.
An anonymous source told The Independent that a group of more than 30 had been talking about asking for a refund, in a move that could cost Branson millions.
‘Before this tragic event happened I had been thinking of pulling my money anyhow because there had been various reports saying it doesn’t stand a chance of getting into space,’ the source added. ‘I am giving serious thought to pulling out.’
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Ashton Kutcher was one of the first celebrities to book his ticket – and the 500th person overall – and he has since been joined by Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Russell Brand and Lady Gaga.
Actress Victoria Principal bought a ticket in 2009, but her representative Alan Nierob told USA Today that she withdrew from the program in 2012.
On Friday, Branson announced on the Virgin Galactic site that refunds would be available following the tragedy and a spokesperson said that a number of people have asked for their money back.
‘We can confirm that less than three per cent of people have requested refunds,’ the spokesman said.
But the anonymous source also told The Independent that some people are ‘die-hard Richard Branson supporters and they will go on it whatever’.
Igor Kutsenko, who runs an advertising agency in Moscow and plans to go into space with his parents, said: ‘We were all shocked and disappointed by the tragic news. We are in the project from very beginning.
‘My parents are getting older and I’m only worried that their physical ability to participate in this obviously challenging adventure is deteriorating. But we stay firm in our desire to make this suborbital flight.’
Branson had previously said of his programme, and those who wanted to get involved and travel to the final frontier, ‘Everybody who signs up knows this is the birth of a new space program and understands the risks that go with that.’
Following Friday’s crash the billionaire tycoon has insisted that Virgin Galactic could ‘move forward’ as he vowed to travel on board the space flight with his relatives once safety tests have been completed.
He told Sky News: ‘We’ve spent many, many years building a spacecraft, a mothership, a space port, that I think can do the job and do the job safely.
‘We will not start taking people until we’ve finished a whole massive series of test flights and until myself and my family have gone up, and until we feel that we can safely say to people ‘we’re ready to go’.’
He added: ‘All I can say is we will not fly members of the public unless we can fly myself and family members.
‘We need to be absolutely certain our spaceship has been thoroughly tested – and that it will be – and once it’s thoroughly tested and we can go to space, we will go to space.
‘We must push on. There are incredible things that can happen through mankind being able to explore space properly.’
