Blue Origin makes history by transporting the worlds oldest, youngest, and richest people into space
Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, makes history by transporting the world's oldest, youngest, and richest people into space.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin, made his first space flight aboard the New Shepard, a Blue Origin original.
At 9:12 a.m. this morning, the world's richest man and his brother, Mark Bezos, launched into space from a private launch site near Van Horn, Texas. They were accompanied by Wally Funk, 82, and Oliver Daemen, 18. This accomplishment establishes new records for the oldest and youngest people to ever travel to space.
The New Shepard reached suborbit, 60 miles above the earth, in 11 minutes, traveling at three times the speed of sound. At 250,000 feet, two minutes after liftoff, the capsule separated. It then continued to a maximum altitude of 350,000ft in the direction of the Karman line, the dividing line between space and earth.
The New Shepard hovered 100 kilometers above the Karman line, allowing passengers to disembark and enjoy four minutes of weightlessness. The passengers then descended into a desert landing port via parachute.
Blue Origin becomes the second space company to successfully launch human passengers into space, following Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic nine days earlier.
In response to the widespread belief that billionaires are using space travel as a personal escape hatch, Blue Origin stated:
“Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin with the vision of enabling a future in which millions of people live and work in space for the benefit of the Earth. Blue Origin believes that in order to preserve Earth, humanity must expand, explore, discover new energy and material resources, and relocate industries that place a strain on the planet into space. Blue Origin is addressing this today by developing partially and fully reusable launch vehicles that are safe, affordable, and capable of serving all civil, commercial, and defense customers".
Following the flight
Following the flight, Jeff Bezos could be heard inside the capsule declaring that it was the "best day ever" during his astronaut status check response. Wally Funk, 82, echoed this sentiment.
Bezos also announced that ticket sales for Blue Origin are now open, and interested parties need only to send the company an email. Although the ticket's price has not been disclosed to the public, there are rumors that it costs $28 million. This was suggested by an auction winner who has not yet been identified.
The company intends to make two additional space flights before the end of 2021 and has urged interested bidders to make all necessary arrangements for the next scheduled space flight. This includes the unnamed ticket auction winner who resigned at the last minute to allow Oliver Daemen's father, 18, to purchase the ticket.
