Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and three crewmates blasted off into space Tuesday for a short 10-minute sub-orbital flight that the company hopes will be a giant leap forward for the business of commercial space travel.
It is the first launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft to carry passengers after 15 successful uncrewed test flights. After liftoff from the company’s West Texas launch site, it will rocket to an altitude of more than 62 miles above the Earth, where the passengers will experience about three minutes of weightlessness and stunning views out of the largest windows ever built into a space capsule before plunging back into the lower atmosphere and parachuting down to landing.
“I’m excited,” Bezos said Monday in an interview with Gayle King on “CBS This Morning.” “People keep asking if I’m nervous. I’m not really nervous. I’m excited. I’m curious. I want to know what we’re going to learn.”
“You’re not nervous?” King asked. “How are you not nervous?”
“We’ve been training. This vehicle is ready. This crew is ready. This team is amazing,” Bezos replied. “We just feel really good about it.”
Joining him onboard are his brother Mark Bezos; trailblazing aviator Wally Funk, who at age 82 will be the oldest person ever to fly in space; and 18-year-old Dutch student Oliver Daemen, the first paying passenger and youngest ever to launch.
