It seems like noted Theoretical Physicist and Cosmologist, Stephen Hawking, may soon be headed to space. In an interview with Good Morning Britain, he said that he was offered a seat on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spacecraft. “My ultimate ambition is to fly into space. I thought no one would take me, but Richard Branson has offered me a seat on Virgin Galactic, and I said yes immediately,” he said.
Besides this, Hawking also touched upon a bunch of topics such as Donald Trump’s recent travel ban, the replacement of human workers by robots, the discovery of seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, and more. Hawking has already completed a zero gravity flight that allowed him experience weightlessness.
You can see the complete interview in the video below. The discussion regarding Hawking’s space travel starts at 9:05.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is just one of the many companies aiming to send tourists to space in a few years. Elon Musk’s SpaceX program already plans to send two tourists to the lunar orbit in late 2018, aboard the Falcon 9 spacecraft. Another company with space ambitions is Boeing, which has already challenged Musk to a race to Mars.