Bulova Accutron – Sir Richard Branson

At Baselworld, Bulova Corporation announced that global innovator and entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson was named brand ambassador for Bulova Accutron.

Aerospace engineers have been busy over the last four years, secretly working diligently in a Mojave Desert hanger. Their goal: develop a commercial spaceship to loft rich tourists 62 miles above Earth.

This ambitious venture is the work of British billionaire Richard Branson and American aerospace designer Burt Rutan. Last week, the team rolled out their ship and it will begin a rigorous flight test program that space tourism advocates hope will result in the first suborbital joy rides by the end of the decade.

Interest is high and already 250 wannabe astronauts have paid $200,000 or put down a deposit for a chance to float weightless for a mere five minutes.

The commercial spaceship, named White Knight is a twin fuselage ship with the same wingspan (140 feet) as the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, a World War II bomber.

The SpaceShipTwo is the size of a corporate Gulfstream and is capable of carrying six passengers and two pilots. Both ships will be built wholly from ultralight composite materials.

Source: Alicia Chang (AP)

Ultra rich, billionaire Virgin Airline boss Richard Branson is moving ahead with building a luxury Australian island retreat for his Virgin airline staff despite protests from local environmentalists.

Plans for the $4 million (Australian dollars) nine-hectare estate at Noosa, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, have already been scaled back from those first outlined by the British tycoon.

Last week, bulldozers and builders were working on the redevelopment on heart-shaped Makepeace Island in the middle of the Noosa River.

But environmentalists were still concerned about the removal of trees and the 85-year-old timber Queenslander house on the island.

Sir Richard bought the island for $2.86 million in May 2003 and now owns it in partnership with Virgin Blue Airlines managing director Brett Godfrey. The idea was to turn it into a Balinese-style retreat for the owners’ families and for use by Virgin staff.

In style, it mimics Necker Island, Sir Richard’s private Caribbean island.

On Makepeace, there will be three villas attached to the revamped timber house, a lagoon pool in landscaped gardens, tennis court and two-storey kitchen. All the buildings will be on stilts to deal with flooding.