It's the battle of the space billionaires. Richard Branson flew to the edge of space Sunday morning aboard his Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Unity, nine days before Blue Origin's billionaire, Jeff Bezos, is scheduled to make his space trip.
"Welcome to the dawn of a new space age," Branson tweeted.
Welcome to the dawn of a new space age #Unity22 @virgingalactic pic.twitter.com/Rlim1UGMkx
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 11, 2021
Branson made his way safely back to Earth, and into plenty of memes and online jokes.
Many of the memes poked fun at the rivalry between Branson and Bezos.
"Wait until Branson, Bezos and Musk find out that Warren Buffett has built a rocket in his garage and will beat them all to space," joked one Twitter user.
Another wished for more serious competition, writing, "Man, I wish these billionaires felt this competitive about how many people they could help. 'Branson determined to beat Bezos by increasing worker benefits 15%. Bezos counters with 25%!' But no... space races."
Wait until Branson, Bezos and Musk find out that Warren Buffett has built a rocket in his garage and will beat them all to space.
— Ken Bane (@KenBane1) July 2, 2021
Man, I wish these billionaires felt this competitive about how many people they could help. "Branson determined to beat Bezos by increasing worker benefits 15%. Bezos counters with 25%!"
— (((Susan))) (@GoldaLeahBatZvi) July 2, 2021
But no... space races.
If Jeff Bezos or Richard Branson ask, this is space. pic.twitter.com/wkkcl76rms
— David Hughes (@david8hughes) July 3, 2021
Jeff Bezos (left) and Richard Branson arguing over who arrived in outer space first pic.twitter.com/3UQWwCzt3g
— vigtec (@vigtecofficial) June 28, 2021
Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to the rest of us pic.twitter.com/W7u6wyttkb
— Josh Weinstein (@Joshstrangehill) July 11, 2021
Billionaires racing to space is cool and all, but maybe they could also pay taxes
— Angry Staffer (@Angry_Staffer) July 11, 2021
Bezos, Branson and Musk going into space the way we want them to.... pic.twitter.com/DKjs1C36m2
— DasGift (@DasGiftBerlin) July 2, 2021
Some memes brought in Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his bizarre July 4 video in which he rides an electric surfboard while holding an American flag.
"Why won't he fly to space like all the other weirdo billionaires?" asked one tweet.
why won't he fly to space like all the other weirdo billionaires pic.twitter.com/YFitmaA4aQ
— ᑕᕼᑌᑎK (@chunkled) July 4, 2021
BEZOS: I’m going to space.
— Jon Horowitz (@WitzPickz) July 5, 2021
BRANSON: I’m going to space.
MUSK: I’m going to space.
ZUCKERBERG:pic.twitter.com/kSBxEGXQBr
Other memes poked fun at the entire concept of a billionaire tooling around in space for an hour, with plenty of comic-book and superhero references. After all the Fantastic Four developed their powers during an experimental space jaunt.
congrats to private space explorers everywhere pic.twitter.com/KuTeUQMDo7
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) July 11, 2021
Congratulations Sir Richard Branson pic.twitter.com/G7K64amiA4
— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) July 11, 2021
— MrEmpathy (@MrEmpathy3) July 11, 2021
Live shot of Richard Branson pic.twitter.com/vl10mq13Sn
— Seth Masket (@smotus) July 11, 2021
Well I made sourdough croissants this morning but you don't hear me bragging...
— NanaEsther (@NanaEsther1939) July 11, 2021
Branson wants to bring space to the average person.
— ✨☮💙 Kim Ruxton 💙☮✨ (@KimRuxton) July 11, 2021
How about food?
let's do that one first.
So cool that billionaires are going to space, can we fully fund childhood cancer research now?
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) July 11, 2021
Basically space twitter after #Unity22 pic.twitter.com/GeVDjPAQoG
— Syah out of context (@akbarzsc) July 11, 2021
More space jokes will surely go into orbit when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos catches up to Branson with his own space flight, on July 20.