Jeff Bezos blasted into space Tuesday on his rocket companyB次元官网网址檚 first flight with people on board, becoming the second billionaire in just over a week to ride his own spacecraft.
The Amazon founder was accompanied by a hand-picked group: his brother, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands and an 82-year-old aviation pioneer from Texas B次元官网网址� the youngest and oldest to ever fly in space.
B次元官网网址淏est day ever,B次元官网网址� Bezos said after the capsule touched down on the desert floor at the end of the 10-minute flight.
Named after AmericaB次元官网网址檚 first astronaut, Blue OriginB次元官网网址檚 New Shepard rocket soared from remote West Texas on the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, a date chosen by Bezos for its historical significance. He held fast to it, even as Virgin GalacticB次元官网网址檚 Richard Branson pushed up his own flight from New Mexico in the race for space tourist dollars and beat him to space by nine days.
Unlike BransonB次元官网网址檚 piloted rocket plane, BezosB次元官网网址� capsule was completely automated and required no official staff on board for the up-and-down flight.
Blue Origin reached an altitude of about 66 miles (106 kilometres), more than 10 miles (16 kilometres) higher than BransonB次元官网网址檚 July 11 ride. The 60-foot (18-meter) booster accelerated to Mach 3 or three times the speed of sound to get the capsule high enough, before separating and landing upright.
The passengers had several minutes of weightlessness to float around the spacious white capsule. The window-filled capsule landed under parachutes, with Bezos and his guests briefly experiencing nearly six times the force of gravity, or 6 GB次元官网网址檚, on the way back.
Liftoff! has cleared the tower with Jeff, Mark, Wally, and Oliver on board.
B次元官网网址� Blue Origin (@blueorigin)
Sharing BezosB次元官网网址� dream-come-true adventure was Wally Funk, from the Dallas area, one of 13 female pilots who went through the same tests as NASAB次元官网网址檚 all-male astronaut corps in the early 1960s but never made it into space.
Joining them on the ultimate joyride was the companyB次元官网网址檚 first paying customer, Oliver Daemen, a last-minute fill-in for the mystery winner of a $28 million auction who opted for a later flight. The Dutch teenB次元官网网址檚 father took part in the auction, and agreed on a lower undisclosed price last week when Blue Origin offered his son the vacated seat.
Blue Origin B次元官网网址� founded by Bezos in 2000 in Kent, Washington, near AmazonB次元官网网址檚 Seattle headquarters B次元官网网址� has yet to open ticket sales to the public or reveal the price. For now, itB次元官网网址檚 booking auction bidders. Two more passenger flights are planned by yearB次元官网网址檚 end, said Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith.
The recycled rocket and capsule that carried up TuesdayB次元官网网址檚 passengers were used on the last two space demos, according to company officials.
Virgin Galactic already has more than 600 reservations at $250,000 apiece. Founded by Branson in 2004, the company has sent crew into space four times and plans two more test flights from New Mexico before launching customers next year.
Blue OriginB次元官网网址檚 approach was slower and more deliberate. After 15 successful unoccupied test flights to space since 2015, Bezos finally declared it was time to put people on board. The Federal Aviation Administration agreed last week, approving the commercial space license.
Bezos, 57, who also owns The Washington Post, claimed the first seat. The next went to his 50-year-old brother, Mark Bezos, an investor and volunteer firefighter, then Funk and Daemen. They spent two days together in training.
University of Chicago space historian Jordan Bimm said the passenger makeup is truly remarkable. Imagine if the head of NASA decided he wanted to launch in 1961 instead of Alan Shepard on the first U.S. spaceflight, he said in an email.
B次元官网网址淭hat would have been unthinkable!B次元官网网址� Bimm said. B次元官网网址淏次元官网网址滻t shows just how much the idea of who and what space is for has changed in the last 60 years.B次元官网网址�
Bezos stepped down earlier this month as AmazonB次元官网网址檚 CEO and just last week donated $200 million to renovate the National Air and Space Museum. Most of the $28 million from the auction has been distributed to space advocacy and education groups, with the rest benefiting Blue OriginB次元官网网址檚 Club for the Future, its own education effort.
Fewer than 600 people have reached the edge of space or beyond. Until Tuesday, the youngest was 25-year-old Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov and the oldest at 77 was Mercury-turned-shuttle astronaut John Glenn.
Both Bezos and Branson want to drastically increase those overall numbers, as does SpaceXB次元官网网址檚 Elon Musk, whoB次元官网网址檚 skipping brief space hops and sending his private clients straight to orbit for tens of millions apiece, with the first flight coming up in September.
Despite appearances, Bezos and Branson insist they werenB次元官网网址檛 trying to outdo each other by strapping in themselves. Bezos noted this week that only one person can lay claim to being first in space: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who rocketed into orbit on April 12, 1961.
B次元官网网址淭his isnB次元官网网址檛 a competition, this is about building a road to space so that future generations can do incredible things in space,B次元官网网址� he said on NBCB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址漈oday.B次元官网网址�
Blue Origin is working on a massive rocket, New Glenn, to put payloads and people into orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The company also wants to put astronauts back on the moon with its proposed lunar lander Blue Moon; itB次元官网网址檚 challenging NASAB次元官网网址檚 sole contract award to SpaceX.
Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press
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