jeff bezos touches space aboard blue origin rocket

“Blue Origin’s initial spaceship may do a handful or two handfuls of seconds more in space than us, but our future spaceship will do the same.” “Nasa, who are the global authority on this, have always recognised 50 miles as the boundary of space. “I have my astronaut wings,” Sir Richard said. He said his response to Blue Origin’s remarks was to “simply ignore them”. The Associated Press contributed to this report.Speaking to The Sun last week following his successful spaceflight, Sir Ricard shot back. This mission, Bezos added, is about 'building a road to space for the next generations to do amazing things there, and those amazing things will solve problems here on Earth.' We've always done that as a species, as a civilization. 'You know, we have lots of problems here and now on Earth and we need to work on those, and we always need to look to the future. If successful, Blue Origin plans two more passenger flights by year’s end.īut many have criticized the so-called 'billionaire space race,' with some saying that space travel will be a luxury for the ultra-wealthy, while others have said that people like Bezos should focus on issues on Earth.īezos, for his part, told CNN that those critics are 'largely right.' 'I watched Neil Armstrong step onto the surface of the moon, and I guess it imprinted me.'īezos’ dream-come-true trip follows 15 successful test flights to space by New Shepard rockets since 2015, all of them unoccupied. 'Space is something that I have been in love with since I was 5 years old,' the Amazon founder said in 2014. 'Wally' Funk was one of 13 female pilots who went through the same testing back in the early 1960s as NASA’s Mercury astronauts, but failed to make the cut because they were women.įor Bezos, the mission is personal: He grew up during the Apollo spaceflight era, which inspired him as a child.

The crew featured a number of milestones, in addition to Bezos' record-setting trip – at 82, Funk became the oldest person in space at 18, Daemen, whose father is the CEO of a private equity firm in the Netherlands, is now the youngest.Īn anonymous bidder paid $28 million in a charity auction for Daemen's slot on the flight initially, but bowed out due to a scheduling conflict Daemen's father was one of the runners up in the bidding, and the 18-year-old was initially set to be on the second New Shepard flight, according to a Blue Origin spokesperson.ĭaemen called it a 'dream come true' in a statement, adding: 'The flight to and into space only takes 10 minutes, but I already know that these will be the most special 10 minutes of my life.'

Impressive! Very best to all the crew from me and all the team at Richard Branson July 20, 2021 The New Shepard rocket flew toward space at three times the speed of sound, or Mach 3, before the booster separated from the capsule and returned for an upright landing. The booster landed vertically, right on target, not unlike SpaceX's Falcon 9 vessels. The rocket is more traditional, taking off vertically and consisting of a capsule and a booster module, which detached after the booster burned up its propellant fuel. The capsule is fully automated, so there is no need for trained staff aboard the quick up-and-down flight, which was expected to last about 10 minutes. “It is a small little thing, and it is fragile,' Bezos said.īezos founded Blue Origin in 2000, and the company has been testing its New Shepard capsule – named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space – for over a decade. 'I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this,' Bezos said.īezos told CNN that seeing Earth from the rocket was 'profound,' adding that seeing the planet 'drives home that point that we know theoretically, that we have to be careful with the Earth's atmosphere.' #GradatimFerociter #NSFirstHumanFlightĪt a press conference after the flight, Bezos took the time to thank Amazon employees and customers for making the trip possible. This first astronaut crew wrote themselves into the history books of space, opening the door through which many after will pass. Congratulations to all of Team Blue past and present on reaching this historic moment in spaceflight history.

Jeff bezos touches space aboard blue origin rocket