jeff bezos touches space aboard blue origin rocket

#Jeff bezos touches space aboard blue origin rocket windows#

The rocket relied on deployable air brakes and steering fins to maintain its orientation before re-igniting its BE-3 engine, unfolding four hinged legs and settling to a picture-perfect landing. The reusable New Shepard booster, meanwhile, headed back to Earth on its own, plunging tail first toward a landing pad two miles from the launch site. One of her crewmates could be heard saying 'well, that was intense' while another said he was 'happy, happy, happy!' And even on the way down, the view was spectacular. The crew had no problems strapping back in. Wally Funk, 82, the oldest person to fly in space, floats to the right of 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, who became the youngest when they launched on the Blue Origin New Shepard spacecraft on July 20, 2021. All too soon, weight returned as both began falling back into the lower atmosphere.

Two minutes after booster engine shutdown and the onset of weightlessness, the crew was warned they had about a minute to make their way back to their seats to strap in for re-entry. That's the altitude recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, a Switzerland-based organization that sanctions aerospace records.īranson's Virgin Galactic spaceplane flies about 10 miles lower but well above the 50-mile altitude recognized by NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration as the point where wings, rudders and other aerosurfaces no longer have any effect. The capsule, named 'First Step,' reached a maximum altitude of 66.5 miles, more than four miles above the internationally recognized 62-mile-high 'boundary' between the aerodynamically discernible atmosphere and space. She could be seen floating in front of a window, staring out at Earth and space, a view she had dreamed about for decades.

'That is just incredible,' Daemen said a moment later. “Who wants a Skittle?”: New footage from inside the capsule shows how Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen spent their time in space /excCMRm1Zg- CBS News July 20, 2021 'All right, see if you can catch this in your mouth.' Daemen did just that, prompting cheers in the cabin.

Tossing candy and ping pong balls back and forth, doing somersaults and marveling at the view, the crew cavorted like school kids, clearly thrilled by the experience.

#Jeff bezos touches space aboard blue origin rocket windows#

A few seconds later, at an altitude of about 45 miles, the booster's company-designed BE-3 main engine shut down and the crew capsule was released to fly on its own.Ĭoasting upward along an unpowered ballistic trajectory, Bezos and his crewmates enjoyed about three minutes of weightlessness, unstrapping, floating about the cabin and taking in the view through the largest windows ever built into a spacecraft. In a little more than two minutes, the spacecraft was shooting skyward at three times the speed of sound, dwindling to a blur more than 30 miles up. Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket launches on July 20, 2021, carrying passengers Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin and Amazon, his brother Mark Bezos, Oliver Daemen and Wally Funk. EDT.Ĭlimbing straight up atop 110,000 pounds of push, the rocket rapidly accelerated as it consumed its load of supercold liquid oxygen and hydrogen propellants, pushing the passengers back in their recliner-style seats with about three times the normal force of gravity. The crew lifted off from the company's West Texas launch site at 9:12 a.m. 'Best day ever!' an elated Bezos said upon landing.Ĭompeting head to head with fellow billionaire Richard Branson, who flew into space aboard his Virgin Galactic rocketplane July 11, Bezos blasted off with his brother Mark and two history-making passengers: 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk, the oldest person to fly in space, and Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old Dutch student who is the youngest ever to fly in space.įunk, who was barred from NASA's initially all-male astronaut corps in the 1960s, finally got her chance to prove the naysayers wrong, realizing a lifelong dream. Riding his own rocket, Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos streaked into space Tuesday on a thrilling 10-minute up-and-down flight, a high-tech joyride that sets the stage for the start of commercial passenger service later this year.