British billionaire Sir Richard Branson may have big dreams about the future of space tourism, but his potential launch partner in the U.K. is calling the idea ludicrous as the COVID-19 pandemic rattles the country’s economy and worsens inequality.
Branson’s Virgin Group has reportedly been looking to enlist Spaceport Cornwall, an airport in the southwestern town of Newquay, England, as the launch facility for Virgin Galactic, which plans to send tourists into suborbital space for 90-minute trips. Cornwall is already a launch partner for Branson’s other space venture, Virgin Orbit, which sends satellites into Earth’s orbit by attaching a small rocket to a modified Boeing 747 aircraft.