Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson is aiming to beat fellow billionaire Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos into space by nine days.

Branson's company announced Thursday evening that its next test flight will be July 11 and that its founder will be among the six people on board. The winged rocket ship will soar from New Mexico – the first carrying a full crew of company employees. It will be only the fourth trip to space for Virgin Galactic.

The news came just hours after Bezos' Blue Origin said Bezos would be accompanied into space on July 20 by a female aerospace pioneer who's waited 60 years to rocket away.

Bezos chose July 20 as his West Texas launch date – the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. He assigned himself to the flight just a month ago, the final stretch in a yearslong race to space between the two rich rocketeers.

Bezos will be on Blue Origin's debut launch with people on board, accompanied by his brother, the winner of a $28 million charity auction for a seat on the spaceflight, and Wally Funk, one of the last surviving members of the Mercury 13 who was chosen as his "honored guest."

As late as Wednesday, Branson declined to say when he would ride into space because of restrictions placed on him by his publicly traded company. But he stressed he was "fit and healthy" to fly as soon as his engineers give him the go.

"I've always been a dreamer. My mum taught me to never give up and to reach for the stars. On July 11, it's time to turn that dream into a reality aboard the next @VirginGalactic," he said via Twitter.

Virgin Galactic launches its rocket ship from an aircraft, reaching an altitude of roughly 88 kilometers. Blue Origin launches its New Shepard rocket from the ground, with its capsule soaring to about 106 kilometers. Both those heights are considered the edge of space. By comparison, Elon Musk's SpaceX launches its capsules – both crew and cargo – into orbit around Earth.

All three private space companies plan to take paying customers into space. SpaceX will be the first with a private flight coming up in September.

Flights by Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin last about 10 minutes, with three or so minutes of weightlessness. But the returns are quite different: Virgin Galactic's rocket plane glides to a landing on a runway with a pair of pilots in charge. Blue Origin's automated capsules parachute to the desert floor. Their spaceports are just 320 kilometers apart.

Blue Origin has yet to announce ticket prices or when the public might strap into the spacious six-seat capsule. Its New Shepard rocket is named for Alan Shepard, the first American in space.

Virgin Galactic has more than 600 reservations in the pipeline. These original tickets went for $250,000. The company will start accepting more following the upcoming flight with Branson.

Virgin Galactic plans three more test flights before taking up customers. Branson was initially supposed to be on the second demo coming up, but moved it up in an apparent bid to outdo Bezos. He said Wednesday, after his other company Virgin Orbit launched a batch of satellites, that it's important for his customers to see him ride his rocket ship first, before they climb on board.