Blue Origin has not yet revealed per-seat pricing, although it’s likely to be in the six-figure range, too.īottom line: Private spaceflight company Blue Origin successfully launched its New Shepard rocket on July 20, 2021, with the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos, aboard. We’re here to make space accessible to all.īut a Virgin Galactic seat costs $250,000. During the broadcast on July 11, Branson said: Nevertheless, the billionaire space race has prompted a broader discussion about the accessibility of space tourism as the industry grows. For 96% of the world’s population, space begins 100 km up at the internationally recognized Kármán line. New Shepard will launch Bezos and friends past the Kármán line, the 62-mile (100 km) mark internationally recognized as the boundary of space.įrom the beginning, New Shepard was designed to fly above the Kármán line so none of our astronauts have an asterisk next to their name. It highlights the altitude to which the rockets will fly. The chart compares the rockets’ vehicle types down to their window sizes. In the days leading up to Branson’s July 11 flight, Blue Origin posted a colorful chart (shown below) to the company’s Twitter feed, highlighting some differences between its rocket and that of Virgin Galactic. military, and the Federal Aviation Administration as the edge of space.
That’s the altitude recognized by NASA, the U.S. On July 11, another billionaire founder of a private space company – Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic – successfully soared to about 50 miles (80 km) high. billionaire debate sparking up in the days leading up to Bezos’ launch to space. In case you didn’t know, Jeff Bezos is said to be the richest man in the world. The younger Daemen will become the youngest person to go to space. His father, Joes Daemen, is is founder and CEO of Somerset Capital Partners. The 4th and final crew member for Blue Origin’s July 20 flight is Oliver Daemen, age 18. Funk will become the oldest person to go to space. He traveled with Funk, age 82, who is now the oldest “astronaut.” Billionaire Jeff Bezos – founder of Amazon in 1994 and Blue Origin in 2000 – invited Wally Funk, age 82, to join him on his rocket company’s first human spaceflight on July 20. … a participant in the auction and had secured a seat on the second flight.Īt age 18, Daemen is now the youngest person to fly to space. Thus Daemen became Blue Origin’s first paying customer. … has chosen to fly on a future New Shepard mission due to scheduling conflicts. In the July 15 Blue Origin statement, the company said the still-anonymous bidder: The younger Daemen replaced the anonymous $28 million (USD) bidder who initially won the New Shepard seat at auction. But the program ended up canceled, and NASA never sent Funk to space.Īlso flying on July 20 was a teenager named Oliver Daemen, the 18-year-old son of Dutch equity company Somerset Capital Partners’ CEO, Joes Daemen. In 1961, Funk and a group of female pilots formed Mercury 13 and passed many of the same tests their male colleagues took. With them was Wally Funk, whom Bezos personally invited to fly. Blue Origin’s July 20 crewįor the July 20 Blue Origin flight, Bezos’ younger brother Mark Bezos was riding along. Image via Amy Harris/ Invision/ AP/ Business Insider. Mark, who is 6 years Jeff’s junior, joined his brother on Blue Origin’s July 20 flight. The company’s goal is in part space tourism, which is surely getting a boost from Bezos’ well-publicized flight, as well as from the suborbital flight of Richard Branson via Virgin Galactic on July 11. The July 20 date falls on the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.Ī typical New Shepard spaceflight lasts 11 minutes, as did the July 20 flight.īezos, who founded Amazon and owns the Washington Post, founded Blue Origin back in 2000. The company’s official Twitter feed will also be sharing mission updates throughout the day today.īezos’ flight was live-streamed on Blue Origin’s website.
Broadcasts will continue after the rocket’s landing, Blue Origin said in a statement on July 12.
Bezos’ feat came just nine days after another billionaire, Richard Branson, also flew to the edge of space, on a similar sub-orbital trajectory. Thus the launch set a record for both the oldest and youngest person to fly to space. On board the ship were, in addition to Bezos, his brother, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, an 82-year-old aviation pioneer, and Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old student from the Netherlands. EDT from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas. It was the first launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard reusable launch vehicle with humans aboard. Jeff Bezos soared past the edge of space on Tuesday, July 20, 2021.
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