The capsule separated from its booster, and when it got high enough, the astronauts unbuckled and experienced space for three to four minutes. Notably absent was the still anonymous winner of a $28 million auction for a seat, who had "scheduling conflicts" and will take part in a future flight.ĭaemen's father, the CEO of a private equity firm, was a runner-up in the bidding, allowing his teenage son to become the company's first paying customer.Īfter lift-off, New Shepard careened towards space at speeds exceeding 2,300 mph (3700 kph) using a liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen engine whose only byproduct is water vapor. "This might have looked easy today, it was anything but easy," said Gary Lai, lead designer of New Shepard.
Lift-off was slightly delayed and came at 1312 GMT from a remote facility in the west Texas desert called Launch Site One, some 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the nearest town, Van Horn. Named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space, the New Shepard suborbital rocket had flown 15 uncrewed flights to put it through its paces and test safety mechanisms. Today, the company is developing a heavy-lift orbital rocket called New Glenn and also a Moon lander it is hoping to contract to NASA. Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson made the voyage on July 11, narrowly beating the Amazon magnate in their battle of the billionaires.īut Blue Origin's sights were set higher: both in the altitude to which its reusable New Shepard craft would ascend compared to Virgin's spaceplane, and in its ambitions.īezos, 57, founded Blue Origin in 2000 with the goal of one day building floating space colonies with artificial gravity where millions of people will work and live. "It's dark up here," said barrier-breaking female aviator Wally Funk, who joined Bezos, his brother and 18-year-old Dutchman Oliver Daemen, who became the youngest ever astronaut. The Federal Aviation Administration said it would investigate, grounding Blue Origin flights until it concludes "whether any system, process or procedure related to the mishap affected public safety.Earlier, the New Shepard capsule reached at an altitude of 66.5 miles (107 kilometers), allowing the passengers to experience weightlessness while admiring the curve of the Earth. Related: What Will It Be Like to Fly in a Blue Origin Spaceship? The rocket reached 37,000 feet, or approximately seven miles - well below the 60-plus miles typically reached. The incident occurred one minute and four seconds after takeoff, at the point where the vehicle experiences "forces of maximum atmospheric pressure." A yellow flame burst from the booster's engine, and as the booster pitched, the emergency escape system sent the capsule to safety. xFDsUMONTh- Blue Origin September 12, 2022 But several celebrities, including William Shatner, Michael Strahan and Bezos himself have journeyed to the edge of space on New Shepard vehicles of the same design, The New York Times reported.īooster failure on today's uncrewed flight. There were no people aboard the flight, which departed from Blue Origin's launch site in West Texas. Related: William Shatner Moved to Tears After Trip to Space: 'I Hope I Never Recover From This'
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