When he straps into his seat on Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity rocketship bound for the edge of space on Thursday, the British adventurer Jon Goodwin will not just be setting a record as its first private paying passenger.
Nor will the 80-year-old be focusing too much on finally ending the wait that began in 2005 when he signed up to fly aboard Sir Richard Branson’s spaceliner, believing that it would be only a few years away.
Beyond the record books and the personal ambition, Goodwin wants most of all for his Mach 2 jaunt to light a fire in others who, like him, live with Parkinson’s.
“I feel very strongly that a good thing will come out of this for the 145,000 people in the
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