- Virgin Galactic announced Monday that it would launch its first commercial space flight this week.
- The company, owned by the billionaire Richard Branson, is selling $450,000 tickets for future tours.
The internet is roasting Virgin Galactic for launching its first commercial space flight less than a week after the Titan submersible tragedy.
The company, which is owned by the billionaire Richard Branson, announced Monday that it would send three passengers from the Italian Air Force and National Research Council into space on the Galactic 01 mission. They are set to be accompanied by five Virgin Galactic crew members — one astronaut instructor and four pilots.
The 90-minute space flight is scheduled to take off on Thursday, June 29, and the purpose of the mission is to "conduct a series of suborbital science experiments," per the press release.
Virgin Galactic is also selling tickets for future commercial space flights at $450,000 each, encouraging prospective clients to "reserve" their place "in history," per a brochure found on the website.
But social-media users had a field day roasting the company for its poor timing: The Titan submersible imploded last week while carrying a few billionaire tourists on an expedition to see the Titanic shipwreck.
The Instagram comments section of a post about the flight uploaded by Pubity, an entertainment-media account with more than 33 million followers, was wild.
"I need to see the controller first," an Instagram user said.
"Didn't realize they were working on a sequel…" another user commented.
"This gonna be a one way trip too or..?" one user said.
One commenter also brought up the possibility of the Virgin Galactic spacecraft exploding: "For an extra $200,000 you can blow up instead of implode."
But the concerns about the safety of space tourism aren't unfounded: In November 2014, one crew member died during a test flight of Virgin Galactic's prototype craft when it exploded over the Mojave Desert.
In April, a SpaceX rocket exploded into a fireball during its first attempt to launch into orbit. SpaceX was founded by yet another billionaire — Elon Musk.
But that doesn't stop the ultra-wealthy from booking expensive and dangerous adventure trips for fun.
Perhaps this one comment from the earlier Instagram post sums it up: "Someone is seriously trying to decrease that 1% population."
Virgin Galactic did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.