10.9, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

I'm Bethany Van Delft, and this is the 10 News,

where we get the lowdown on what's up in the world.

It's Thursday, July 29th.

From billionaires soaring to the stars

to stellar sights to see this summer, Today we've got the scoop on space.

Let's blast off.

The world has been buzzing about space lately as more and more rockets take off from our planet.

But the latest launches aren't from governments or organizations that you're used to like NASA.

Instead, several billionaires and their companies have gotten into a bit of a space race.

To infinity and beyond.

On July 1st, Richard Branson, who owns Space Company Virgin Galactic, became the first person

to get to space in a rocket that he funded.

Cool.

And on July 21st, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos flew a few miles higher than Branson and a rocket called New

Shepard.

Nice.

Each flight was about 10 minutes long.

Both Virgin Galactic and Bezos company Blue Origin have stated that they're looking to popularize

space tourism, but right now they're charging big

bucks for the privilege. Virgin is currently charging $250,000 a seat. And while Blue Origins

tickets aren't open for the public to buy yet, one of Bezos's seatmates ponied up $28 million for the first ride. These flights represent a new

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