The Bezoses Are Going to Space
- Florencia Lombardi
- Jun 11, 2021
- 3 min read
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of the technology company Amazon, will fly to space next month. ‘The New Shepard’, a rocket made by Bezos’ space company Blue Origin, will take him to space in its first crewed flight. Scheduled for July 20, the flight will take place only 15 days after he is set to resign as CEO of Amazon.
Among the six passengers will also sit Mark Bezos, Jeff's younger brother. The other four members of the crew are still unknown. However, one of the seats is being auctioned off to the highest bidder until June 12, and according to the company, bids have already reached $2,8 million, with the final sum collected going to the company’s science and technology outreach foundation, Club for the Future.
So far, to show the mission’s safety, the New Shepard has made 15 uncrewed test flights. However, hundreds of intensive piloted flights are usually completed before a commercial aircraft carries passengers.
The New Shepard capsule, which will be launched from the Blue Origin's facility in Texas, is autonomous, meaning it does not require human pilots. After its launch, the complete flight will last approximately 11 minutes. The passenger capsule will detach from the rocket over 60 miles above Earth, after which it will experience a few minutes of weightlessness before parachuting back to our planet.
In an Instagram video, Bezos commented that “I want to go on this flight because it’s a thing I’ve wanted to do all my life.” While describing the flight he said: “It’s an adventure. It’s a big deal for me.”
Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin’s principal competitor in suborbital tourism flights, is also working to take paying customers to space. Its VSS Unity space plane has flown several times and the company’s chief astronaut was once a passenger.
As both companies continue making developments in this field, Blue Origin is also expanding in other areas. Currently, it is developing a towering rocket to allow the US government and commercial satellites to orbit. Another potential goal of this rocket, called the New Glenn, is to travel to deep space. Additionally, Bezos’ company is seeking involvement in NASA’s plan to return humans to the moon by 2024. Although NASA is working with SpaceX and has rejected Blue Origin, the company remains persistent.
Bibliography
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