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.
Beautiful launch from West Texas this morning. #NSFirstHumanFlight pic.twitter.com/JUpRA7PHvv
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 20, 2021
Upon landing, the astronauts were greeted by their families and Blue Origin’s ground operations team for a celebration in the West Texas desert.
Picture perfect landing in the West Texas desert! #NSFirstHumanFlight pic.twitter.com/UXQvzBkq6P
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 20, 2021
Check out some of best photos from today’s historic #NSFirstHumanFlight pic.twitter.com/aqQg0gzxi4
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 20, 2021
At age 82 and 18 respectively, Funk and Daemen also became the oldest and youngest person to fly into space respectively.
“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.
Well done @blueorigin, @jeffbezos, Mark, Wally and Oliver. Impressive! Very best to all the crew from me and all the team at @virgingalactic
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 20, 2021
