Jeff Bezos travels to space and back on Blue Origin Rocket: NPR

Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifts off Tuesday morning from the launch pad in Van Horn, Texas.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifts off Tuesday morning from the launch pad in Van Horn, Texas.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Jeff Bezos wore a cowboy hat under the morning sun in West Texas and crossed the bridge to enter the capsule made by his company Blue Origin. He was accompanied by three others, his brother Mark Bezos, female aviation pioneer Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen.

Then the shuttle’s hatch closed and just before 9:15 a.m. ET, the four flew into space on the first human flight on Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch vehicle.

Bezos is the second billionaire this month to reach the edge of space: Richard Branson shot there last week aboard a ship made by his company Virgin Galactic.

The date of the New Shepard’s first launch is no coincidence: July 20 was the day in 1969 that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon.

The crew went 62 miles above the earth in minutes

New Shepard’s suborbital flight path is designed to go higher than the Krmn line, which is often considered the boundary of space: about 62 miles above Earth.

That line was a bottleneck in the space race between Bezos and Branson.

Branson’s SpaceShipTwo reached a peak altitude of about 282,000 feet higher than the NASA-designated 50-mile boundary between Earth and space, but short of the Krmn line.

About three minutes into the flight, the booster separated from the crew pod. Then the New Shepard passed the Krmn line, with celebratory shouts at the sound of the shuttle.

A sonic boom was heard as the booster returned to Earth. The capsule stayed in the air longer, floating against the blue sky.

The crew that joined Jeff Bezos included his brother Mark (left), 18-year-old physics student Oliver Daemen, and 82-year-old pioneering female aviator Wally Funk.

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The crew that joined Jeff Bezos included his brother Mark (left), 18-year-old physics student Oliver Daemen, and 82-year-old pioneering female aviator Wally Funk.

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The astronauts, as Blue Origin calls them, were allowed to break free.

“Who Wants a Skittle?” Jeff Bezos asked, slowly tossing one of the candies over the capsule, which Daemon caught in his mouth.

“Oh Jeff, look at that, it’s dark in here!” A minute later Funk was heard saying, apparently looking out of the capsule windows. “Two thousand miles an hour.”

About eight minutes into the flight, parachutes were deployed from the capsule to give the crew an easy landing.

The capsule landed in the desert sand and a soft plume of dust rose around it. All in all, the mission lasted approximately 11 minutes from takeoff to landing.

After the capsule landed, cars arrived with crews to open the hatch and videographers to capture the moment. Due to the light wind the capsule ended up where expected.

Jeff Bezos stepped out of the capsule first, followed by Daemen. Then Funk came forward, her arms outstretched for joy. Mark Bezos came out last and the four hugged family and friends.

The trip featured the youngest and oldest people who traveled to space

The New Shepar’s flight included both the oldest and youngest humans to travel to space.

Funk, 82, is one of the last remaining members of a group of female pilots who were part of a test to see if women were fit for space travel in 1961. The women passed many of the same tests as the male pilots, and they became famous. as the Mercury 13, but NASA never sent them to space.

Daemen, an 18-year-old Dutch student on a gap year, was the first paying customer aboard the New Shepard.

His father, Joes Daemen, founder and CEO of the Dutch investment company Somerset Capital Partners, initially secured a spot for his son on the second flight. But the mysterious winner of an auction for a spot on the New Shepard’s voyage apparently had a scheduling conflict, and Jeff Bezos invited Oliver Daemen on board.

The dawn of an era of space tourism

The launch was a big day for Bezos, as well as for Blue Origin’s space tourism program. The company’s webcast praised that interested viewers should contact them about booking a spot on a future Blue Origin flight.

Two more flights are scheduled for 2021.

Bezos Announces New $100 Million Awards

At a press conference after landing, Bezos announced a new philanthropic award, the Courage and Civility Award.

The first winners of the prize are political commentator and social entrepreneur Van Jones and restaurateur and humanitarian Jos Andrs. Each winner will receive $100 million, which they can donate to the charities of their choice.

Bezos praised that prices contain no bureaucracy. “They can give it all to their own charity, or they can share the wealth,” he said. “It’s up to them.”

NPR’s Scott Neuman and Bill Chappell contributed to this report.