That’s how they did it. Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos and their crews tried for a few minutes what it’s like to be in a state of weightlessness. They saw the planet from a perspective hitherto offered only to professional astronauts, and returned happily.
We asked the members of the ranking of the richest Czechs if they would also like to look into space and what they think about commercial flights. Are they a benefit, or just a whim of the rich and expensive adrenaline fun?
Vladimír Kovář
Owner of the largest software company Unicorn, which celebrated a record turnover last year. He likes to buy and renovate real estate in the Czech Republic. His projects include the construction of a new Petrova bouda in the Giant Mountains and he also likes to fly – his own helicopter.
Space tourists fly weightless for eleven minutes, and yesterday I flew to one kilometer and stayed in the air for an hour and a half. When you fly under a cloud, sometimes it also pulls you up, and then when you fall back, you find yourself in a weightless state for a while. Exaggeration, of course, is incomparable.
I was thinking about the ticket, but the woman wouldn’t give it to me! It’s a great experience and of course I watch the flights. Someone has to kick it, you have to learn to move on. I watched Bezos’s flight almost live, and my sons also watched.
We support progress, we like such activities and it’s a lot about software. You have to be precise, many things have already been solved and others will come next.
We need to be as kind to the planet as possible – for example, I often buy land, not to build on it, but not to build and contribute to the devastation of the Earth.
But some things are simply moving forward, and although it is not a question of the next ten or fifty years, we are heading to cross the borders of the planet. My wife and I once debated on the lift in Špindlerův Mlýn, how strange it is that we have a board on our feet, and we go up with some wire. She told me, can you imagine what a fox or a wolf would say and that they would do the same?
Maybe it’s similar to the people who criticize commercial space flights today because they are destroying the planet, but then they board a plane and fly. People are flying into space who have the means to do so and want to explore this space. It will suit us all.
Pavel Sehnal
The owner of SPGroup also owns, among other things, the Slavia insurance company, the Čestlický aquapark and printers in Kolín. He enjoys sailing, cycling and extreme sports, including participating in Vas’s run, long-distance cross-country racing.
After decades of hard work, 71-year-old visionary Richard Branson conquered the gates of space in his VSS Unity space shuttle. He proved to the whole world that tenacity and hard work bring success, and that we will not depend on the whims of politicians and state money to explore the universe further.
Space flights can be financed with private money, and would I fly alone? Yes, he flew. I especially appreciate the independence from politicians and governments. The private sector invests money in space projects, great! It can be seen that if companies do not look as brutal as in the Czech Republic, they are able to invest capital in long-term projects.
Karel Janeček
Mathematician and reformer, owned by RSJ or the luxury Zanzibar resort of Zuri, the Pilot21 flight simulator and the Racing 21 racing team. He is close to numbers, technology and everything new.
I’d love to look into space one day, but I’m in no hurry, I still have plenty of time in my life. Seeing the globe from space, feeling the space, experiencing the view – it must be an extraordinary experience.
I believe that for many people, such a journey can also have an important philosophical dimension, even if it will not be a trip for everyone in the foreseeable future. I support commercial space flights, of course with regard to the impact on the environment.
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