Amazon's Jeff Bezos successfully launched into space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket on July 20. Also on board, brother Mark Bezos, 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, and Mercury 13 pilot Wally Funk.
July 20 (UPI) -- Amazon founder Jeff Bezos set several records for human spaceflight Tuesday as he and three crewmates soared into space aboard a Blue Origin rocket from Texas, and landed safely in the desert about 10 minutes later.
The New Shepard suborbital rocket lifted off about 9:12 a.m. EDT from the company's Corn Ranch launch site 160 miles east of El Paso.
As the capsule reached space, the crew was heard over a live broadcast cheering and whooping. "It's dark up here!" said aviator Wally Funk, 82, now the oldest person to fly into space.
"You have a very happy crew up here, I want you to know," Bezos said.
The four crew members ascended the launch tower and reached the capsule via a walkway about 30 minutes before liftoff. They were strapped into seats in the capsule for the countdown.
Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket launches carrying passengers Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and space tourism company Blue Origin, brother Mark Bezos, Oliver Daemen and Wally Funk, from its spaceport near Van Horn, Texas, Tuesday, July 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Upon liftoff, the New Shepard rocket named RSS First Step rose into the cloud-streaked morning sky.
Family members greeted the crew with hugs and champagne as the crew emerged following the flight.
The rocket, about five stories tall, accelerated to about 2,200 mph emitting 110,000 pounds of thrust. It created gravity forces of about three times the normal pull on Earth.
Bezos "has dreamed of going to space since he was a little boy, and [he] will be sitting in seat number six, right next to the hatch," said Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin's director of astronaut sales.
"I literally have had goose bumps ... and they haven't gone away," said Bezos brother and crewmate Mark Bezos, 53, in an Instagram post prior to launch.
Funk and the Bezos brothers rode into space with passenger Oliver Daemen, 18, now the youngest person to reach space.
Daemen also became the first paying customer on a private company's spacecraft. His father secured the seat for the teen after a Blue Origin auction June 12. The winner bid $28 million, but backed out because of a scheduling conflict, the company said, and Daemen's father was the second-highest bid.
"We are also flying, of course, our first paying commercial customer, and the fact that we're doing this on a private vehicle ... from a private launch site is just something that hasn't been done," Audrey Powers, vice president resident of New Shepard operations, said during a press conference prior to launch.
Bezos became the second person to reach space aboard his own company's private spacecraft, the Blue Origin capsule. Just nine days earlier, Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, secured that record first, but he launched from the public Spaceport America, which is owned by the state of New Mexico, 170 miles south of Albuquerque.
Bezos chose July 20 for the launch because it is the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. He plans for Blue Origin to eventually build orbital rockets and facilities on the moon -- and even asteroids of Mars.
After reaching space, the crew experience a few minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth.
Unlike many other spaceports, Blue Origin's facility is in a remote area, on a 165,000-acre property with no public vantage points for viewing. But hundreds of Blue Origin employees were shown watching the broadcast and cheering at the company's headquarters in Kent, Wash.
Blue Origin intends the launch to begin a new period of space tourism, leading to more space exploration, CEO Bob Smith said.
"New Shepard is only the beginning because Blue Origin is a company that is not only building space vehicles, but it is ... tackling the building blocks, the technology, the people, the processes and the infrastructure needed to truly lower the cost of access to space, and enable a near term future where people live and work in space for the benefit of Earth," Smith said.
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News / Astronomy
Watch: Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin crew soar into space
By Paul Brinkmann, UPI
Published Jul 20, 2021 3:42 PM EDT | Updated Jul 20, 2021 7:17 PM EDT
Partner Content
Amazon's Jeff Bezos successfully launched into space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket on July 20. Also on board, brother Mark Bezos, 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, and Mercury 13 pilot Wally Funk.
July 20 (UPI) -- Amazon founder Jeff Bezos set several records for human spaceflight Tuesday as he and three crewmates soared into space aboard a Blue Origin rocket from Texas, and landed safely in the desert about 10 minutes later.
The New Shepard suborbital rocket lifted off about 9:12 a.m. EDT from the company's Corn Ranch launch site 160 miles east of El Paso.
As the capsule reached space, the crew was heard over a live broadcast cheering and whooping. "It's dark up here!" said aviator Wally Funk, 82, now the oldest person to fly into space.
"You have a very happy crew up here, I want you to know," Bezos said.
The four crew members ascended the launch tower and reached the capsule via a walkway about 30 minutes before liftoff. They were strapped into seats in the capsule for the countdown.
Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket launches carrying passengers Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and space tourism company Blue Origin, brother Mark Bezos, Oliver Daemen and Wally Funk, from its spaceport near Van Horn, Texas, Tuesday, July 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Upon liftoff, the New Shepard rocket named RSS First Step rose into the cloud-streaked morning sky.
Family members greeted the crew with hugs and champagne as the crew emerged following the flight.
The rocket, about five stories tall, accelerated to about 2,200 mph emitting 110,000 pounds of thrust. It created gravity forces of about three times the normal pull on Earth.
Bezos "has dreamed of going to space since he was a little boy, and [he] will be sitting in seat number six, right next to the hatch," said Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin's director of astronaut sales.
"I literally have had goose bumps ... and they haven't gone away," said Bezos brother and crewmate Mark Bezos, 53, in an Instagram post prior to launch.
Funk and the Bezos brothers rode into space with passenger Oliver Daemen, 18, now the youngest person to reach space.
Daemen also became the first paying customer on a private company's spacecraft. His father secured the seat for the teen after a Blue Origin auction June 12. The winner bid $28 million, but backed out because of a scheduling conflict, the company said, and Daemen's father was the second-highest bid.
"We are also flying, of course, our first paying commercial customer, and the fact that we're doing this on a private vehicle ... from a private launch site is just something that hasn't been done," Audrey Powers, vice president resident of New Shepard operations, said during a press conference prior to launch.
Bezos became the second person to reach space aboard his own company's private spacecraft, the Blue Origin capsule. Just nine days earlier, Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, secured that record first, but he launched from the public Spaceport America, which is owned by the state of New Mexico, 170 miles south of Albuquerque.
Bezos chose July 20 for the launch because it is the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. He plans for Blue Origin to eventually build orbital rockets and facilities on the moon -- and even asteroids of Mars.
After reaching space, the crew experience a few minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth.
Unlike many other spaceports, Blue Origin's facility is in a remote area, on a 165,000-acre property with no public vantage points for viewing. But hundreds of Blue Origin employees were shown watching the broadcast and cheering at the company's headquarters in Kent, Wash.
Blue Origin intends the launch to begin a new period of space tourism, leading to more space exploration, CEO Bob Smith said.
"New Shepard is only the beginning because Blue Origin is a company that is not only building space vehicles, but it is ... tackling the building blocks, the technology, the people, the processes and the infrastructure needed to truly lower the cost of access to space, and enable a near term future where people live and work in space for the benefit of Earth," Smith said.
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