How was the flight of billionaire Jeff Bezos into space: photos, videos and interesting details
Today, the 57-year-old founder of Amazon and the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, made his first suborbital space flight. This trip was organized by Bezos ' company Blue Origin, and his 53-year-old brother Mark, 82-year-old pilot Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Damen made up the company. We tell you how the flight went in our material.
Today at 16 o'clock Moscow time, the New Shepard rocket with Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, pilot Wally Funk and the son of a financier from the Netherlands Oliver Damen on board started from the billionaire's ranch in Texas. In just a minute of flight, the rocket reached a speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour and rose to an altitude of 10 kilometers. A few minutes later, the rocket crossed the Pocket line, ending up at an altitude of 100 kilometers above the Earth.
Scenes from #NSFirstHumanFlight astronaut load. pic.twitter.com/L7u1ZaYn60
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 20, 2021
Then the capsule with Jeff Bezos and other passengers successfully disconnected from the rocket, thanks to which all participants of the flight were able to stay in weightlessness for a few minutes. The upper stage first returned to Earth, and a couple of minutes later a capsule with people descended by parachute. In total, the suborbital flight lasted 10 minutes and 20 seconds.
For the first time after landing, the passengers did not leave the capsule, but only shared their impressions on the radio. They reported that everything was fine with them, calling this day one of the best in their life.
After some time, the capsule was surrounded by a team of technicians, the crew members were finally able to get to the surface without any problems. On the Ground, passengers were already met by their relatives and friends.
The first to congratulate Jeff Bezos on his successful suborbital flight was his beloved Lauren Sanchez, who wrapped the billionaire in her strong arms. Then all the participants of the flight and their families opened champagne and drank to a historic moment for the global space industry.
Later, Jeff Bezos and other participants of the flight went to a press conference, where they shared their impressions with journalists.
It is worth noting that this flight has really already gone down in history, and for several reasons at once. First, Jeff Bezos has made the first global step in the development of space tourism, which means that in the foreseeable future, space flights will turn from an unattainable dream for ordinary residents of our planet into something real and affordable. Secondly, this flight will also be remembered by unique crew members: in addition to the richest person in the world, the youngest and oldest cosmonauts went into space today.
We are talking about a woman inspector of the US Federal Aviation Administration, 82-year-old Wally Funk, and 18-year-old American Oliver Damen. Back in the 1960s, Funk successfully passed tests to prepare for space flight, but then she did not fly into space for a number of reasons. All these years, Wally continued to dream about flying into space. And luck smiled on her when Jeff Bezos invited Funk to join the flight of his company Blue Origin as a guest of honor.
But Oliver Damen got on board by accident. He took the place of another crew member, who bought him for $ 28 million at an auction. Due to his busy work schedule, he was unable to take part in the first flight and expressed the hope that he would fly into space with Blue Origin a little later. Instead, the son of a financier from the Netherlands, Oliver Damen, flew into space today, who became not only the youngest person to visit space, but also the first commercial client of Blue Origin. By the way, the amount he paid for the flight has not been officially disclosed.
