Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made history as the second billionaire in over a week to fly to space and back, with his company Blue Origin.
Alongside Bezos was his brother Mark, 18-year old Oliver Daemen and 82-year old Wally Funk, with the latter two representing the youngest and oldest to visit space. An anonymous winner of the flight trip that paid $28 million USD did not make the trip due to “scheduling conflicts”, and the latter’s spot was replaced with Daemen earlier last week.
The flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket took off early on Tuesday morning from Launch Site One in West Texas. The capsule containing the four astronauts was fully automated, compared to the piloted space flight from Richard Branson earlier this month, who beat Bezos to space.
Blue Origin reached 106 kilometres altitude, which was 16 kilometres higher than Branson’s flight. The company earlier this month pointed out this was a ‘true’ flight to space, taking jabs at Branson’s Virgin Galactic.
From the beginning, New Shepard was designed to fly above the Kármán line so none of our astronauts have an asterisk next to their name. For 96% of the world’s population, space begins 100 km up at the internationally recognized Kármán line. pic.twitter.com/QRoufBIrUJ
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 9, 2021
You can see clips of Bezos floating in space, offering Skittles candy and more. At the post-launch conference, Bezos thanks Amazon customers and staff for paying for his flight to space.
Blue Origin video from inside the New Shepard capsule in space:
Jeff Bezos: “Who wants a Skittle?” pic.twitter.com/SUO6sAYZAE
— Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) July 20, 2021
.@JeffBezos speaking truth after successful #BlueOrigin flight:
“I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this.” https://t.co/hMS01eRzMs pic.twitter.com/3CueAOX9M8
— Dan Linden (@DanLinden) July 20, 2021
Video of the launch:
Beautiful launch from West Texas this morning. #NSFirstHumanFlight pic.twitter.com/JUpRA7PHvv
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 20, 2021
New Shepard landing on its own:
Never gets old! Third consecutive landing for this booster. #NSFirstHumanFlight pic.twitter.com/E26ZJW9vd0
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 20, 2021
Capsule landing in the desert:
Picture perfect landing in the West Texas desert! #NSFirstHumanFlight pic.twitter.com/UXQvzBkq6P
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 20, 2021
Check out the full replay below of the launch and landing below:
A replay of the post-launch press conference:
The flight lasted just over 10 minutes and after landing back to earth, Bezos said it was the “best day ever!”.
