Image source,Reuters
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos took his space exploration company Blue Origin spacecraft on Tuesday (20th), successfully entered space and returned safely.
Traveling with Bezos are his younger brother Mark Bezos (Mark Bezos), 82-year-old former aerospace trainee Wally Funk (Wally Funk), and 18-year-old high school graduate Oliver Dyman (Oliver Daemen). Funk and Dyman set historical records respectively, becoming the oldest and youngest people in space.
This journey marks another milestone in civil space travel. They were the first civilian passengers to enter space and were not accompanied by professional astronauts during the journey to the edge of space, which lasted about 11 minutes.
They took the “New Shepard” (New Shepard) rocket from Texas, the United States, the rocket was fully automated, and once reached an altitude of 106 kilometers above the earth’s surface. This exceeds the Karman Line, which is considered the height of the edge of space.
The passengers experienced a state of weightlessness that lasted for 4 minutes, and then opened their parachutes and began to return. After the capsule safely landed in the desert, cheers were everywhere.
Who are the space travelers?
Image source,Blue Origins
From left: Mark Bezos, Jeff Bezos, Oliver Dyman, Wally Funk
The 82-year-old Funk is a guest of honor invited by Bezos. Her dream since childhood was to become an astronaut. She had received astronaut training in the 1960s, but because the US government, the military, and the Space Agency had reservations about women becoming astronauts at that time, Funk and other trained women were unable to enter space in the end.
During this space journey, she said, “Oh my God, look at this world while watching the scenery outside the cabin.”
The youngest passenger on this trip is Dutch student Oliver Dyman, who will go to Utrecht University in the Netherlands to study physics and innovation management in September this year. His father was the founder and CEO of a private equity company, and Blue Origin did not disclose the price of this spaceship ticket.
Dyman confirmed his participation in the flight at the last moment, replacing a mysterious passenger who was unable to travel due to the itinerary conflict. This person previously bought the space flight opportunity at a high price of 28 million U.S. dollars (20 million pounds) in an auction bid. .
Bezos’ brother Mark said after landing safely: “I feel incredibly good.” He is currently the senior vice president of Robin Hood, a charity in New York.
This is the first time that Blue Origin has performed a manned mission. Bezos founded the company in 2000 and has been planning manned flights for many years. He once said that space flight is his lifelong dream.
Bezos is one of the richest people in the world. He resigned as CEO of Amazon earlier this month to focus on other investment projects, including Blue Origin.
Image source,Blue Origin
Bezos looked very excited when he stepped out of the capsule
Business tycoon faces criticism for space exploration
Another billionaire, Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson (Sir Richard Branson) also took a trip to the edge of space earlier this month. Together with five other people, including two pilots, he boarded a small rocket plane operated by his company Virgin Galactic, and returned after reaching the edge of space.
Both billionaires spent a lot of money on space exploration projects in order to realize their childhood dreams, and took the risk to try them in person, hoping to promote space flight, make it more common and lower the threshold.
Image source,Blue Origin
The moment when the Blue Origin capsule landed
Both Bezos and Branson have encountered fierce criticism on social media. People believe that their funds for space exploration could have been used for better purposes, such as fighting climate change and helping the world recover from the new crown epidemic.
Branson responded to the criticism: “I can understand, but I think they may not fully understand what space means to the earth.”
He explained that satellites can monitor phenomena caused by climate change. “We need more spacecraft to go to space, not less.”