The edge of space and beyond: Billionaires fuel new space race

Space - the word itself carries a whiff of both the finite and the infinite; in its definition, it is both restrictive and liberating at the same instance; in its scope, it can be full of possibilities and yet be impossible to imagine in its entirety. He and his fellow passengers, Branson employees, Sirisha Bandla, Beth Moses and Colin Bennett went to the edge of space, climbing to some 80 kms above the earth's surface. READ: US approves Blue Origin license for human space travel ahead of Bezos flight That Branson went to space is true if one follows the 50 miles up, an imaginary line that NASA takes as the beginning of space and awards astronaut wings to those who cross it. READ: 'Can't wait to join the club': After Branson, Bezos set to blast into space In March 2021, Japanese fashion billionaire Yusaku Maezawa announced that he was looking for 8 crew members for a mission to the Moon. READ: These coloured pictures from Ingenuity helicopter offer new insights into unseen Martian world According to NASA, some of the benefits that came out of earlier space engineering efforts are - improved solar panels, implantable heart monitors, light-based anti-cancer therapy, cordless tools, light- weight high-temperature alloys used in jet engine turbines, cameras found in today's cell phones, compact water- purification systems, global search-and-rescue systems and biomedical technologies.