The night before Richard Branson’s 2021 spaceflight with Virgin Galactic, he woke up to find Elon Musk barefoot in his kitchen at 2:30 a.m. Musk had quietly entered the New Mexico home with his baby, hoping to surprise Branson and wish him luck before liftoff. Branson said they made a pot of tea and sat outside under the stars catching up. Musk later traveled to the spaceport to watch Branson’s launch, which beat Jeff Bezos to space by nine days. Their friendship goes back years. They first met at Larry Page’s wedding on Branson’s private island. In 2008, Musk surprised Branson again—this time by showing up in Switzerland with the first Tesla Roadster for a test drive. Branson sees Musk as one of the most driven entrepreneurs of his time. He called him the Henry Ford of his generation and said Musk has pushed through failure again and again.