Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson has reached space aboard his own winged rocket ship, vaulting the nearly 71-year-old founder past fellow billionaire and rival Jeff Bezos. Video / AP
Social media has gone wild over an item on Sir Richard Branson's kitchen cabinets, bizarrely overshadowing his space launch announcement.
Branson is ultra-wealthy from his lucrative Virgin business, and this week became the first billionaire to launch into space.
The British businessman is also good friends with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
In a snap shared to Twitter, the two high-flying billionaires spent the morning in one of Branson's rental homes before he jetted off into the universe.
However, Twitter users were more interested in his kitchen than the space race.
— Kelsea Bauman-Murphy (@preachy_spice) July 12, 2021
"It was Richard's rental house, which overall is great, but I agree regarding the cabinets haha," Musk wrote.
"This was 3am, day of flight. Wasn't expecting this brutal pic of me to be posted, but oh well."
Bauman-Murphy quickly quipped: "Elon all I want is for you to have a happy life with nice cabinets and hemmed pants. I also would like money. From you. Please."
It might not be Musk's home, but the rich-lister made news this week for living in a tiny house worth just US$50,000 ($71,000).
He revealed in a tweet that he rents the humble home from SpaceX on its launch site in Boca Chica, Texas.
The 'googly-eyed' kitchen cabinets was the source of much amusement for people on Twitter. Photo / Twitter
According to Forbes, Branson has a net worth of US$4.9 billion.
He was born in Blackheath, London, in 1950 and started his first venture, Virgin Records, in 1972, which he sold to EMI in 1992 for $928 million.
The dad-of-two, 70, has started very lucrative companies along the way, including Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984 and Virgin Trains in 1993.
He launched Virgin Galactic in 2004, with the hope of offering future trips to space. Branson also created Virgin Media, Virgin Racing and Virgin Comics.
In 2007, he was placed in the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World list.
