Once upon a time the global space race was decided by the wealth of nations, but now billionaires have started taking over its future. The world’s wealthiest man, Jeff Bezos, has blasted into space in his own spaceship of his private space company, Blue Origin, on July 20, 2021. Bezos is the second billionaire in just over a week to travel to space, with Richard Branson being the first.

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The rocket reached an astonishing height of around 107km, according to the Blue Origin telecast, which was higher by more than 17 kilometres of Branson’s Virgin Galactic ride, launched on July 11, 2021.

Although some have celebrated this occasion, many have vented their frustrations about these billionaires not investing in more important things that are currently happening in the world, for instance: climate change, environmental pollution, the pandemic, and many more.

Amongst the billionaire entrepreneurs leading this privately-funded race into space (also known as NewSpace) are South African-Canadian-American billionaire Elon Musk, American billionaire Jeff Bezos, and British billionaire Richard Branson.