jeff bezos touches space aboard blue origin rocket

'It's like swimming,' someone else agreed.Īs ground crew swarmed the capsule and let the astronauts out, Mr Bezos could be clearly seen through the window grinning wildly and giving ecstatic thumbs up. 'I was surprised at how easy Zero G was,' said someone. Wally Funk observed with surprise that the trip was only five minutes.

He added that his 'main mission was accomplished - I didn't kick anybody'. Upon landing, the celebrations continued: Mr Daemen said he felt 'unbelievably good', while Mr Bezos declared: 'Best. Mr Bezos responded to an OK check from ground control with 'happy, happy, happy!' The controller, laughing, responded: 'Copy.' Whereas audio and video for Richard Branson's VSS Unity spacecraft cut out at the crucial moment, Mr Bezos and his fellow passengers could be heard cheering and whooping throughout their brief sojourn in outer space. The delight in the New Shepard capsule when it breached the Karman line was palpable, writes our San Francisco correspondent Io Dodds. I was inspired as a little boy by the Apollo astronauts, and I hope that inspires little kids too. Kids, every kid has so much potential inside of them. There is earth's atmosphere, when we get up there it is this teensy little thing we need to protect. What I can tell you is it is just one place, there are no boundaries, no natural lines. maybe we need to send a poet up, someone who will be better at describing it. It gives people a chance to see what we just saw, which is this fragile, beautiful earth, that you cannot imagine. Every time we fly it is practice for this mission. This vehicle we flew is our sub orbital tourism vehicle. 'The long term vision is we are building an orbital vehicle called New Glenn. 'It was much more than I expected, it was just awe inspiring. He's given a quick interview to Bloomberg, where he explains what he saw and what is next for Blue Origin. All three have promoted tackling environmental issues, but some see them as leaving those behind in their quest for space.īlue Origin hopes to surge ahead in space tourism, a market that could be worth more than $3bn by 2029, according to analysts.Īriane Cornell, director of astronaut and orbital sales at Blue Origin, said during the live stream of the event: 'We've got some exciting news for you: we are open for ticket sales.'īezos is back on solid ground and we are expecting a press conference to start shortly. There have been questions over the space race between billionaires, Mr Bezos, Elon Musk and Sir Richard. Upon landing, the celebrations began: Mr Daemen said he felt 'unbelievably good', while Mr Bezos declared: 'Best. However, the space plane did not cross the line into space, although Sir Richard was still awarded astronaut wings, since the US recognises space at a height of 50 miles, rather than 62 miles for the Karman line.Īfter three minutes of weightlessness, the crew returned to their seats, falling back down to earth before two sets of parachutes slowed their capsule to its landing point. It flew higher than Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, who took a flight to the very edge of space just nine days earlier. It crossed the so-called Karman line, considered to be the boundary of space by international space agencies. It accelerated to 2,223mph, before reaching an apogee of 347,563 feet. With only a small delay, the rocket took off at 2.15pm UK time, 8.15pm in Texas. They also took Mr Daemen, a Dutch student who was gifted the place after the mystery winner of a $28m auction for a ticket pulled out due to a 'scheduling' conflict. She originally trained to be an astronaut in the 1960s, but along with female applicants was rejected despite passing all Nasa's tests. On board, Blue Origin took Ms Funk, making history as the oldest person in space. The company's rocket, New Shepard, had made 15 previous flights prior to today's launch, but it was its first including a crew complement. The flight was two decades in the making for Mr Bezos, a long time space fanatic and fan of Star Trek, who founded Blue Origin in 2000. Mr Bezos, 57, said he was 'happy, happy, happy' as the vehicle floated above the earth. The four experienced a brief period of weightlessness on flight, which lasted ten minutes and ten seconds, whooping and cheering as they floated in orbit for a period of around three minutes.

Jeff bezos touches space aboard blue origin rocket