维珍银河公司创始人理查德·布兰森将成为其公司“太空船2号”航天器的首批乘客中的一位。
Richard Branson will be one of the first to ride on his company's SpaceShipTwo vehicle.
布兰森表示,不久即将开启他的首次太空之旅。
Branson says he will take first trip into space soon.
他在一个节目中说道:“我们指的是未来几个月,而不是几年。所以,很快就要到了,兴奋的时刻即将到来。”
"We're talking about months away, not years away – so it's close. There are exciting times ahead," he said in a program.
布兰森表示,目前他的宇航员训练进展顺利,自己现在每天打四次网球以提高体能。
He said the astronaut training was going well so far, and he has increased his fitness by playing tennis four times a day.
这位67岁的亿万富翁自2004年以来就一直在投资商业太空旅行,建立了太空旅行公司维珍银河公司。
The 67-year-old multi-millionaire has been investing in commercial space travel since 2004, when he founded space tourism company Virgin Galactic.
布兰森、SpaceX创始人埃隆·马斯克还有亚马逊创始人杰夫·贝索斯,目前正在将付费的旅客送入太空上展开竞争。
Branson, SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are now in a race to get fare-paying passengers into space.
布兰森称:“最终,我们必须要确保安全。这更像我们在与自己赛跑,确保能制造出足够安全的载人航天器将人们送入太空。”
"Ultimately, we have to do it safely. It's more a race with ourselves to make sure we have the craft that are safe to put people up there," Branson said.