It's not often that I get to spill some info in regards to my life outside of this blogging world and the passions I have which are covered on this site, but for this story there's a personal context to it. In this case, my dad (and formerly, my brother in law) work at the Ames Research Center on the campus of the historic Moffatt Field in Mountain View, CA. It is part of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration, better known to all of us as NASA, the American space program, which marked an important milestone this past summer.
It was fifty years ago that the world stopped whatever they were doing in the summer of 1969 to witness to moment that brought a nation much-needed good news to end the turbulent decade of the '60s. Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins ventured on Apollo 11 and the Eagle spaceship up to the moon... and Aldrin stepping foot on the surface and Armstrong's quote "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" remain etched in the collective memory of everyone who lived through that iconic moment of the 20th century.
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| Digital Trends |
With MTV's status as one of the world's largest broadcasters, the flagship U.S. operation has tapped into its global reach across this planet to search out those to join The Challenge, starting on Vendettas and continuing into the two seasons of War of the Worlds. On another level, it also looked to the U.K. to bring two of MTV's most explosive formats -- Ex On The Beach and Just Tattoo of Us -- into the biggest and most lucrative media market. And the pending merger of MTV parent Viacom and CBS Corporation will also bring under the same corporate umbrella three other imported reality formats from Europe that have also had success here: Survivor, Big Brother and Love Island -- all of those making huge impacts in the past year on The Challenge.
The move to bring alumni from the original British version of Ex, a few alumni from Geordie Shore (coinciding with the Jersey Shore reboot and the Floribama spinoff) and those from MTV UK into The Challenge - as well as next month's Peak of Love - continues the ongoing fascination Americans have with our friends across the pond. A lot of what we have here in America right now was derived or influenced by those in Great Britain, and where a latest topic among those in the tabloids have been of the Royal Family being at odds with the first American to join them, Meghan Markle. And a month ago, one of the most influential figures in the world flew to New York to help launch a new venture on the fiftieth anniversary of that historic moon walk.
Branson learned the hard way about becoming a millionaire selling Christmas trees and parrots before launching his own magazine, Student, that saw him interview a relatively young Mick Jagger among other figures. That led him to launch a record shop in the 5th Avenue of Britain, London's Oxford Street, and he used the money he earned in that gig to join British businessman Nik Powell to launch a record label... so began the British success story that is Virgin.
A company whose name was brought on by the rookie nature of all of its employees launched in 1972, and not only did he bring Mick's fellow mates, The Rolling Stones, under its fold - Virgin Records also signed Paula Abdul, Peter Gabriel, The Sex Pistols, UB40 and Boy George's Culture Club, before it was sold off in 1992. At the same time, the company spread its wings to aviation in launching Virgin Atlantic Airways, communications in mobile phone, cable and radio; and in just about every form of business you can think of.
Recently, Virgin launched a growing line of hotels, which next year sees the Las Vegas hotel that hosted The Real World Back to Las Vegas (which introduced us to Nany Gonzalez and Leroy Garrett), the Hard Rock, being rebranded under the Virgin name following a lengthy renovation that begins next February. And no mention of Virgin would be complete without those famed Megastores which were a staple of Times Square during the height of its popularity, before it was downsized to a regional brand in the Middle East during the Great Recession.
For someone as well known as Sir Branson, he is a regular in any publication's list of most influential people, and where Forbes magazine has his net worth valued at $5.1 billion USD (£3.9 billion GBP). He's also made a strong impact with his charitable work, the occasional controversy that follows him (including his opposition to Brexit and sexual harassment charges laid upon him), and of course his many world record attempts including cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon.
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| Pic: Under Armour |
Working out of its headquarters in the Mojave Desert, Virgin Galactic continues to move closer to finally getting realizing the dream of space tourism, with crewed test flights to resume before the end of this year. And last month, the company held a press event in New York City to reveal the first line of outfits of space wear designed solely with private astronauts in mind. Virgin and Sir Richard looked to pioneering athletic outfit company Under Armour to design the spacewear for the venture... one that's already collected nearly $100 million in receipts ahead of its first space flight.
For those who are interested in the technical aspects: Under Armour's spacewear is very much different from what NASA has offered for decades, in it resembling jumpsuits a jet pilot would wear with the Blue Angels. They're all tailored to the measurements that those who've spent $250,000 to take a 90-minute flight into outer space and everything that comes along with it... yet it stays true to the playbook and philosophy company founder Kevin Plank had when he decided to create a better kind of athletic wear when he conceived Under Armour in the late 1990's.
The revealing of the spacegear came just before Plank announced that would hand his chief executive officer keys to chief operating officer Patrik Frisk in the new year. The transition takes place amidst much corporate uncertainty, including a federal probe into its accounting practices, and reports emerging of a toxic work culture including employees using strip club visits on company cash to win over athletes. Those controversies have affected not only work morale in its Baltimore home base, but also in Under Armour's bottom line in a sales drop amid competition from other companies.
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| IG @CJKoegel |
C.J. was nothing but smiles in helping to model the new outfit and all he could caption in the Instagram post below was, "My job is out of this world! 🌎🚀" And it capped off a month where he became a married man when he and his fiance tied the knot and became husband & wife... getting a chance to help a $5 billion man launch new space gear is just the icing on the cake of an amazing month for the man his Real World Cancun roommate, and teammate during that Battle of the Seasons Challenge, Derek Chavez once called "the All-American boy."
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