The Simpsons regularly stuns fans with its eerie ability to predict the future.
And the show appears to have done it once again with an image of Sir Richard Branson in spaceflight in a 2014 episode going viral this week after the businessman, 70, launched himself towards the stars on Sunday.
The entrepreneur successfully earned his astronaut wings after travelling to the edge of space on board a Virgin Galactic flight, making him the first spaceflight founder to travel to space on his own ship.
Eerie: The Simpsons correctly predicted Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceflight in a 2014 episode before the businessman, 70, launched himself towards the stars on Sunday
Video of the magnate was beamed back to earth at the weekend as he experienced weightlessness and floated around the cabin of the vessel.
The footage was strangely similar to a scene in a 2014 episode of The Simpsons called The War of Art, the 15th episode of the show’s 25th series.
In the animated programme, art forger Klaus Ziegler tells Lisa his ‘forgeries give pleasure to people all over the world’ before people looking at art in various locations are shown.
Eery: The Simpsons has been known to foresee major world events – from Donald Trump’s presidency to the discovery of a three-eyed mutant fish to the erection of London’s The Shard
Back to the future: Virgin Galactic footage was strangely similar to a scene in a 2014 episode of The Simpsons called The War of Art, the 15th episode of the show’s 25th series
One person enjoying the faked art is Richard who can be seen resting with his hands behind his head as he floats in his spaceship while looking at some art on the wall.
The iconic TV show has been known to foresee major world events – from Donald Trump’s presidency to the discovery of a three-eyed mutant fish to the erection of London skyscraper The Shard.
It has also correctly predicted the winners of World Cup and Super Bowl tournaments and showed Lady Gaga descending from the sky at the Super Bowl before her actual performance at the half time show in 2017 took place.
Businessman Richard flew 53 miles above the surface of the Earth in the VSS Unity craft on Sunday.
Celebrations! Richard celebrated with champagne after touching down following his Virgin Galactic flight on Monday
Currently it is thought a ticket to the edge of space with Virgin Galactic, replicating Branson’s trip will cost about $250,000 (£180,000).
The space tourism pioneer says future vehicles will go faster, higher and longer and he also dreams of building a space station ‘hotel’ around the moon in the distant future.
He said: ‘Whether one day we will build a hotel off the moon, which is something that I’ve always dreamt of, or whether we’ll leave that to my children to do, we’ll have to see.
‘But that’s something which is yet another dream that, if I’ve got time in my life to do, that would be something I’d love to do one day.’
The latest correct Simpsons prediction comes after social media users were left convinced that The Simpsons predicted Kamala Harris’s vice presidency.
New beginnings: Richard flew 53 miles above the surface of the Earth in the VSS Unity craft on Sunday, making him the first businessman to fly to space on his own craft
On a roll: The Simpsons has also correctly predicted the winners of World Cup and Super Bowl tournaments and showed Lady Gaga descending from the sky at the Super Bowl before her actual 2017 performance
The 56-year-old attended the inauguration in a bright purple outfit by American designers Christopher John Rogers and Sergio Hudson, which she accessorized with a custom pearl necklace by Puerto Rican designer Wilfredo Rosado.
The ensemble bore a striking resemblance to one worn by Lisa Simpson in a 2000 episode of the cartoon — in which a grown-up Lisa is President of the United States.
In a 2000 episode called ‘Bart to the Future,’ the show looks forward to a future in which Lisa is President of the United states.
In a cabinet meeting, she says: ‘We inherited quite the budget crunch from President Trump.’
Big moment: Social media users were left convinced that The Simpsons predicted Kamala Harris’s vice presidency in January
Matchy-matchy: VP Harris wore a purple outfit with pearls to inauguration, just like Lisa Simpson wore in a 2000 episode in which she becomes president
When Trump was elected 16 years later, writer Dan Greaney told the Hollywood Reporter: ‘It was a warning to America. That just seemed like the logical last stop before hitting bottom. It was pitched because it was consistent with the vision of America going insane.’
And creator Matt Groening told The Guardian: ‘We predicted that he would be president back in 2000 — but [Trump] was of course the most absurd placeholder joke name that we could think of at the time, and that’s still true. It’s beyond satire.’
Earlier, the 1993 episode ‘$pringfield’ predicted the moment Roy Horn of the Las Vegas duo Siegfried and Roy was mauled by one of the performing tigers.
In the episode, German magicians named Gunter and Ernst perform at a casino and are in the middle of a routine when one of their tigers attack them.
Uncanny: In the episode, Lisa is president and refers to her predecessor, Trump — another surprising real-life event the show predicted
Ten years later in 2003, the real-life Roy was attacked on stage by a white Bengal tiger. The mauling, which nearly killed him, was big news and ended the pair’s show.
Roy suffered severe blood loss and was partially paralyzed.
In another Simpsons-event-turned-reality, in 2017, Disney announced a deal that it had acquired 21st Century Fox, a $71.3 billion merger that was completed earlier this year.
Funnily enough, the Simpsons had joked about the acquisition back in a 1998 episode. Homer is at the studio for what was then 20th Century Fox when he sees a sign for the company, which reads at the bottom: ‘A Division of Walt Disney Co.’
Then there was the 2010 episode Boy Meets Curl, which managed to predict pretty closely that Team USA’s men’s curling team would beat Sweden at the Olympics.
Seeing what’s ahead: In 2017, Disney announced a deal that it had acquired 21st Century Fox — and the Simpsons had joked about the acquisition back in a 1998 episode
Ra ra ooh la la! In a 2012 episode, a Gaga lookalike performs in Springfield, suspended in the air in a bodysuit and tall boots — much like the real Lady Gaga at the 2017 Super Bowl
In the episode, Marge and Homer compete on the US’s mixed doubles curling team at Olympics held in Vancouver, miraculously winning. In 2018, the US men’s curling team did in fact beat Sweden at the Winter Games in PyeongChang.
In an eye-roller of a prediction, the 1990 episode Itchy and Scratchy and Marge has Springfield residents calling out Michelangelo’s statue of David for being obscene in its nudity.
As Business Insider points out, Russian protesters had the same issue with the statue in July of 2016 when a copy was erected in St. Petersburg.
Also hailing back to the early ’90s, a 1991 episode showed Ringo Starr of The Beatles replying to decades-old fan mail.
Over 20 years later in September 2013, two British Beatles fans received a letter from Paul McCartney in response to one they sent 50 years before.
USA! The 2010 episode Boy Meets Curl, which managed to predict pretty closely that Team USA’s men’s curling team would beat Sweden at the Olympics
One of the more shocking instances of life imitating art, though, has to be Homer’s near-prediction for the equation for the mass of the Higgs boson particle, also known as the ‘God particle.’
Homer wrote in on a blackboard in the 1998 episode ‘The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace,’ and physicist Dr. Simon Singh told The Independent that it’s actually pretty accurate — even though scientists didn’t discover proof of the Higgs boson until 2013.
‘If you work it [the equation] out, you get the mass of a Higgs boson that’s only a bit larger than the nano-mass of a Higgs boson actually is,’ he said.
Despite all the correct ‘predictions’ over the years, writer Al Jean insisted they were just coincidences, and notes that in decades of content, some jokes are bound to become reality.
‘If you make enough predictions then 10 per cent will turn out to be right,’ he told Radio 1 Newsbeat.
Businessman Richard flew 53 miles above the surface of the Earth in the VSS Unity craft on Sunday.
Currently it is thought a ticket to the edge of space with Virgin Galactic, replicating Branson’s trip will cost about $250,000 (£180,000).
The space tourism pioneer says future vehicles will go faster, higher and longer and he also dreams of building a space station ‘hotel’ around the moon in the distant future.
He said: ‘Whether one day we will build a hotel off the moon, which is something that I’ve always dreamt of, or whether we’ll leave that to my children to do, we’ll have to see.
‘But that’s something which is yet another dream that, if I’ve got time in my life to do, that would be something I’d love to do one day.’
Math fun! One of the more shocking instances has to be Homer’s near-prediction for the equation for the mass of the Higgs boson particle