Today, Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and one of the wealthiest individuals globally, realized his long-planned goal of journeying to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. Although he didn’t claim the title of the first billionaire in space, as Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic beat him to it, this expedition marks a significant achievement in commercial space travel.
A little after 9:00 AM, the New Shepard rocket, carrying Bezos, his brother Mark, former test pilot Wally Funk (now the oldest person in space at 82 years old), and high school graduate Oliver Daemen (now the youngest person in space at 18 years old), took off from its launch site in western Texas. The rocket soared into the sky, reaching an altitude of 250,000 feet before the capsule separated from the thrusters.
At the Earth’s atmospheric boundary with space, the passengers experienced about four minutes of weightlessness before the capsule descended back to Earth using parachutes and landed safely in the Texas desert. Upon touchdown, Bezos radioed the control tower and joyfully exclaimed, “Best day ever.”
This mission marks Blue Origin’s first successful manned spaceflight, positioning the company as a solid contender against Virgin Galactic and SpaceX in the commercial space travel industry. These companies are expected to play a vital role in shaping the future of space tourism.
Watch Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, blast off into space aboard his Blue Origin spacecraft. https://t.co/FYxACjTzz3 pic.twitter.com/QIacxYNzPP
— CNN International (@cnni) July 20, 2021
Jim Cantrell, former SpaceX executive and current CEO of Phantom Space, expressed, “Entrepreneurs like these are tackling challenges they believe are crucial for humanity’s future, and this is just the beginning. It’s the spirit of exploration embodied by entrepreneurs that has led to solutions for Earth’s problems, and people should embrace this mindset, as it resembles the mentality that has advanced medicine and science.”
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