Amazon founder Jeff Bezos blasts off into space for Blue Origin’s first commercial flight

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos blasts off into space for Blue Origin’s first commercial flight

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has become the second billionaire to blast himself into space this month, after Blue Origin successfully completed New Shepard’s first human flight overnight.

The crew included Bezos, his brother, Mark, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen, who all officially became astronauts when they passed the Kármán Line, the internationally-recognised boundary of space.

Upon landing, the astronauts were greeted by their families and Blue Origin’s ground operations team for a celebration in the West Texas desert.

At age 82 and 18 respectively, Funk and Daemen also became the oldest and youngest person to fly into space respectively.

Mark Bezos, Jeff Bezos, Oliver Daemen and Wally Funk

“Today was a monumental day for Blue Origin and human spaceflight,” said Bob Smith, CEO of Blue Origin.

“I am so incredibly proud of Team Blue, their professionalism, and expertise in executing today’s flight. This was a big step forward for us and is only the beginning.”

Blue Origin expects to fly two more crewed flights this year, with many more crewed flights planned for 2022.

On 11 July, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic completed the world’s first passenger spaceflight onboard Unity 22.

Branson congratulated Bezos on his successful flight over Twitter.

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