World’s first unpiloted flight to space with an all-civilian crew.
News input by Shreya Agarwal
West Texas, Jul 20: After Richard Branson’s successful trip to space, it was Jeff Bezos, Amazon Inc.’s founder, to venture to space. Unlike Richard Branson’s piloted rocket plane, Jeff Bezos’ capsule was completely automated and required no official staff on board for the up-and-down flight.
Blue Origin launched its New Shepard rocket today for an 11-minute flight to space. The crew comprised of Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, Wally Funk, an 82- year-old astronaut trainee (the oldest to have been to space), and an 18-year-old Dutch student Oliver Daeman (the youngest to have travelled to space).
Image credit: Blue Origin
How it works
At an altitude of 47 miles (76 km), a 10-foot- tall capsule with large windows and reclining leather seats detached from the booster and ascended beyond the Kármán line (the most widely recognised boundary of space), 62 miles above the Earth, where the passengers experienced a few minutes of weightlessness and unforgettable views. They then strapped back in and fell freely towards the desert ground with six parachutes. Just before touchdown, a retro thruster slowed the descent for a soft landing.
The New Shepard booster also returned to a landing pad so it can be reused rather than breaking apart in the atmosphere.
Blue Origin is an American spaceflight company founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000, with its headquarters in Kent, Washington.
Both companies, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin, want to sell space joy rides to wealthy tourists. They make the dream to fly to space achievable, but with a huge cost attached to it.
