Unlike Branson’s piloted rocket plane, Bezos’ capsule was completely automated and required no official staff on board for the up-and-down flight.ĭuring their several minutes of weightlessness, video from inside the capsule showed the four floating, doing somersaults, tossing Skittles candies and throwing balls, with lots of cheering, whooping and exclamations of “Wow!” The Bezos brother also joined their palms to display a “HI MOM” greeting written on their hands. The capsule carrying billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos and three crew members returns by parachute after their flight aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket near Van Horn, Texas, U.S., July 20, 2021. The 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 two private companies chasing space tourism dollars, though, have drawn criticism for catering to the rich while so many are struggling amid the pandemic.ĭuring Tuesday’s flight, Blue Origin’s capsule reached an altitude of about 106 kilometres, more than 16 kilometres higher than Branson’s July 11 ride. He held fast to it, even as Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson pushed up his own flight from New Mexico and beat him to space by nine days. Named after America’s first astronaut, Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket soared on the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, a date chosen by Bezos for its historical significance. “Best day ever!” Bezos said when the capsule touched down on the desert floor in remote West Texas after the 10-minute flight. 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 – the youngest and oldest to ever fly in space. Jeff Bezos blasted into space Tuesday on his rocket company’s first flight with people on board, becoming the second billionaire in just over a week to ride his own spacecraft. The Blue Origin crew is due to fly from a desert site in West Texas on an 11-minute voyage to the edge of space.
From left to right: Mark Bezos, Jeff Bezos, Oliver Daemen and Wally Funk.
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