This morning, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the wealthiest individuals globally, successfully fulfilled his long-standing goal by traveling to the very edge of Earth’s atmosphere aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. Although he wasn’t the first billionaire in space, as Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic beat him to it, this journey marks a significant achievement in commercial space travel.
Around 9:00 AM today, the New Shepard launched from its launch site in western Texas with Bezos, his brother Mark, former test pilot Wally Funk (setting a new record as the oldest person in space at 82 years old), and recent high school graduate Oliver Daemen (setting a new record as the youngest person in space at 18 years old) on board. The rocket ascended into the sky, eventually reaching an altitude of 250,000 feet, where the capsule separated from the thrusters.
At this point, at the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, the passengers enjoyed approximately four minutes of weightlessness. Subsequently, the capsule safely descended back to Earth using deployed parachutes and landed in the Texas desert. Upon radioing the control tower post-landing, Bezos joyfully exclaimed, “Best day ever.”
This journey marks Blue Origin’s first successful manned spaceflight, positioning it as a formidable contender among companies like Virgin Galactic and SpaceX. These enterprises are likely to play a crucial role in the future of commercial space travel.
This is the moment Jeff Bezos, the world’s wealthiest individual, flew into space aboard the Blue Origin spacecraft. https://t.co/FYxACjTzz3 pic.twitter.com/QIacxYNzPP
— CNN International (@cnni) July 20, 2021
“These individuals are taking a critical step they believe is essential for the future of humanity, and this is just the beginning,” remarked Jim Cantrell, a former executive at SpaceX and the current CEO of Phantom Space, in an interview with NBC. Cantrell added, “Entrepreneurs have been instrumental in solving many of Earth’s problems. The spirit of exploration should be embraced, as it reflects the same mindset that has led to disease cures and advancements in medicine.”
