One of the world's leaders in physics and cosmology, scientist Stephen Hawking is set to experience another momentous journey-a chance to travel to space. The whole thing was confirmed in his interview with Good Morning Britain.
In the interview, Stephen Hawking expressed his excitement over the matter. "My three children have brought me great joy-and I can tell you what will make me happy, to travel in space. I thought no one would take me but Richard Branson has offered me a seat on Virgin Galactic and I said yes immediately. Since that day I have never changed my mind," he said.
Richard Branson is an English magnate who owns the Virgin group. One of Branson's companies, the Virgin Galactic spaceflight company, is going to be responsible for Hawking's future space travel.
No date has been set yet, but the celebrated physicist hopes the venture is sooner rather than later. Branson hopes that he will be able to take people on commercial flight missions into space soon, and in this thought he promised Hawking a front-row seat.
Stephen Hawking spent most of his life studying the complexity of the universe, and his theories about relevant topics such as quantum mechanics, black holes, and quantum gravity, have helped shape science's understanding oft what lies beyond the earth. And this is exactly the reason why Richard Branson invited the celebrated scientist the journey of a lifetime.
Richard Branson has already expressed his wishes to invite Hawking since 2015. In a statement, he said: "Professor Stephen Hawking is one of the people I admire most in the world, an undisputed genius who has opened our eyes to the wonders of the universe, while also happening to be a kind and delightful man. He is the only person I have given a free ticket with Virgin Galactic, and he is signed up to fly as a Future Astronaut with us if his health permits it."
If the journey becomes reality, Stephen Hawking will be the first person with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to travel into space. He's also going to be one of the oldest astronauts ever in his current age of 75 years old.
