Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has reached a new milestone with the successful flight of its New Shepard rocket. The flight took off from its Launch Site One in the West Texas desert in the US. Bezos was joined by his brother Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, 82, who became the oldest man to go to space, and the 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, becoming the youngest to go into space.
“Congratulations to all of Team Blue past and present on reaching this historic moment in spaceflight history. This first astronaut crew wrote themselves into the history books of space, opening the door through which many after will pass,” Blue Origin said after the capsule made a safe landing.
A new chapter in the billionaire space race
The mission adds another chapter to the space race that has ignited among private space firms. Blue Origin’s flight was the first time a private company launching a privately funded spacecraft with a crew on board.
The crew boarded the capsule 30 minutes prior to the launch and the hatched was closed six minutes after boarding. The crew enjoyed around 3-4 minutes of zero gravity as they traveled above the Kármán Line, the internationally-recognized boundary of space.
The crew was joined by Blue Origin’s recovery team for the post-return celebrations. New Shepard, a fully autonomous spacecraft, didn’t require any staff astronaut during its first-ever human spaceflight. This has paved the way for many more commercial spaceflights in the days to come.
Getting appreciation from peers
Billionaire Richard Branson, who recently went into space aboard his Virgin Galactic’s rocket ship, took to his Twitter to congratulate the Blue Origin crew. “Well done @blueorigin, @jeffbezos, Mark, Wally, and Oliver. Impressive! Very best to all the crew from me and all the team at @virgingalactic,” Branson tweeted.
Earlier, Mark Bezos wrote about his ambition of going into space on social media. “Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space,” Bezos wrote. “On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend.”
