Billionaire Bezos takes own ride to space with all-civilian crew
Published: 04:07 PM,Jul 20,2021 | EDITED : 11:07 PM,Jul 20,2021
Jeff Bezos is launched with three crew members aboard a New Shepard rocket from Blue Origin's Launch Site 1 near Van Horn, Texas. - Reuters
NEW YORK: Amazon founder and world's richest man Jeff Bezos briefly left Earth on Tuesday on board the New Shepard spacecraft developed by the company he founded, Blue Origin.
Bezos, 57, was joined by his brother Mark as well as the oldest person to ever go to space, 82-year-old former pilot Wally Funk, and the youngest, 18-year-old Oliver Daemen. Bezos and other entrepreneurs including British billionaire Richard Branson want to open up a market in space tourism, selling the trip on the experience of zero gravity and the spectacular views of Earth.
The New Shepard went over 100 km above the Earth, over the Karman Line space boundary. This is considerably higher than the Virgin Galactic flight which took Branson into space just nine days ago. The reusable booster rocket that propelled the passengers to the edge of space detached and landed safely back down on the ground. After detaching and reaching its top altitude, the New Shepard sank back down with a parachute and landed on the ground minutes later.
In total, the trip took about 10 minutes.
'Capsule, touchdown! Welcome home to New Shepard's first astronaut crew,' Blue Origin tweeted.
The father of teenager Daemen, Dutch investment banker Joes Daemen, had taken part in the auction for the fourth seat to space in June but was outbid.
However, the anonymous winner of the auction, who bid $28 million, could not take part in the launch due to a 'scheduling conflict.' It has not been disclosed how much Daemen had to pay.
In the 1960s, Funk was part of a group of female aviators that became known as the Mercury 13. They trained to become astronauts, although they were not officially part of a Nasa programme. None of the women ever made it into space.
The previous oldest person to fly into space was John Glenn, who was 77 when he went aboard the space shuttle in 1998.
The launch date is symbolic, taking place exactly 52 years since the first moon landing, as is the name of the spacecraft, named after the first American in space, Alan Shepard. Bezos, who founded the Blue Origin space company about two decades ago, has been heavily criticised for his space tourism ambitions by people who charge that it's a selfish waste of money with no regard for the climate and largely devoid of scientific research interests. - dpa (SEE ALSO P5)
Bezos, 57, was joined by his brother Mark as well as the oldest person to ever go to space, 82-year-old former pilot Wally Funk, and the youngest, 18-year-old Oliver Daemen. Bezos and other entrepreneurs including British billionaire Richard Branson want to open up a market in space tourism, selling the trip on the experience of zero gravity and the spectacular views of Earth.
The New Shepard went over 100 km above the Earth, over the Karman Line space boundary. This is considerably higher than the Virgin Galactic flight which took Branson into space just nine days ago. The reusable booster rocket that propelled the passengers to the edge of space detached and landed safely back down on the ground. After detaching and reaching its top altitude, the New Shepard sank back down with a parachute and landed on the ground minutes later.
In total, the trip took about 10 minutes.
'Capsule, touchdown! Welcome home to New Shepard's first astronaut crew,' Blue Origin tweeted.
The father of teenager Daemen, Dutch investment banker Joes Daemen, had taken part in the auction for the fourth seat to space in June but was outbid.
However, the anonymous winner of the auction, who bid $28 million, could not take part in the launch due to a 'scheduling conflict.' It has not been disclosed how much Daemen had to pay.
In the 1960s, Funk was part of a group of female aviators that became known as the Mercury 13. They trained to become astronauts, although they were not officially part of a Nasa programme. None of the women ever made it into space.
The previous oldest person to fly into space was John Glenn, who was 77 when he went aboard the space shuttle in 1998.
The launch date is symbolic, taking place exactly 52 years since the first moon landing, as is the name of the spacecraft, named after the first American in space, Alan Shepard. Bezos, who founded the Blue Origin space company about two decades ago, has been heavily criticised for his space tourism ambitions by people who charge that it's a selfish waste of money with no regard for the climate and largely devoid of scientific research interests. - dpa (SEE ALSO P5)