To launch a business means successfully solving problems. Solving problems means listening.

It's obviously incredibly important to keep the body fit in order to keep the mind fit, and be able to find time for friends.

I find it very difficult to think of mistakes; not that I don't make any but because I was brought up to look only at the good things in life ... As for what lost the most money, probably Virgin Cola. It is still No 1 in Bangladesh though.

I've used the Phoenix Centrifuge to replicate what the body's going to go through on the flight up. I've also done some gravity tests with ZERO-G [a charter-flight service in Arlington, Va., that uses modified Boeing 727s to simulate weightlessness], which went great.

There are millions of people out there who would love to become astronauts, who'd love to go to space - they'd love to look back at this wonderful world from space. That will be the engine that will enable us then to develop spaceships to transport people around the world at tremendous speeds in an environmentally friendly way.

It is only by being bold that you get anywhere. If you are a risk-taker, then the art is to protect the downside.

Just start. You will learn so many lessons just by doing.