Jeff Bezos flew out of Texas on a rocket, flew into space inside the capsule for four minutes, saw the Earth’s curvature, and returned to touch Earth ten minutes later, at a moment that was apotheosis by friends, family and Blue Origin members. records that will go down in the history of space exploration. One of them was exactly the height at which he arrived, which, unlike what happened to Richard Branson, leaves no doubt that he reached space.
The New Shepard rocket was the first rocket to go into space with a fully civilian crew and was remotely controlled by the Blue Origin team. In addition, Bezos managed to overcome 86 kilometers in height (and this only from the point of view of the American authorities means reaching space). The Bezos rocket traveled 100 kilometers, crossed the Karman line.
But this Tuesday, there was more recording of the trip: aboard the capsule, which he took with him, in addition to his brother Mark, Wally Funk and Oliver Oliver Daman, who at the age of 82 and 18, respectively, became the eldest and the youngest. man of history reaches space.
Tuesday’s trip was awaited with high expectations, not only because of the risks associated with suborbital travel, but also because of the emotion and adrenaline that a trip to space generates, making the moment broadcast live worldwide. Thousands of people are placed on screens in four corners of the world, everything went according to plan and four space tourists were able to experience weightlessness in space and see the beauty of the curvature of the planet.
At the end of the trip, Jeff Bezos confessed that he was fascinated by the “beauty and fragility” of the Earth from space, a trip from which expectations were high, but still “exceeded.” And because Bezos believes the future is through space, the billionaire has pledged to make space travel more accessible to everyone.
After spending hundreds of millions of dollars over the past 20 years and 15 successful tests (without passengers) of the New Shepard rocket named after Alan Shepard, the first American to reach space, on July 20, 1969. Exactly 52 years ago, Blue Origin decided to take the next step and send people to space.
Also, to fly, New Shepard doesn’t need a pilot on board, since the whole process is controlled remotely, through a team from Blue Origin, which controls all steps from computers. In the case of Virgin Galactic, space travel requires the presence of a pilot inside the ship – besides Richard Branson, remember two pilots and three other members of the company crew flew – and the journey, which was nine days ago, took about an hour, since the rocket plane was delivered by the base ship before takeoff, and this process took about 45 minutes.
12 minutes late and after all safety checks before departure New Shepard departed Texas at 2:12 pm and reached three times the speed of sound.… Two minutes after takeoff, the passenger compartment separated from the rocket, and the crew experienced a feeling of weightlessness for about four minutes – they unfastened their seat belts, swam, went to the window and peered into the curvature. From the ground between moments of fun captured on video.
After that, when New Shepard was already quickly descending towards Texas, where it would land vertically, the capsule descended, gradually slowing down, especially after three parachutes were involved. The landing at 14:22 was successful., completing the journey and starting the celebrations – the first unmanned flight with a fully civilian crew was successfully completed.
But Bezos’ journey into space did not go down in history just because it climbed higher, because the crew chosen by the owner of Blue Origin was not accidental. Jeff Bezos not only invited his younger brother Mark Bezos, but also insisted on being present during his first flight into space. Wally Funk, a pilot who, since the 1960s, dreamed of becoming an astronaut.
Despite being a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) flight safety inspector and a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, a pilot since 19 years old and trained over 3,000 people to fly, Wally Funk never had the opportunity to go into space. … He came close to this when he participated in NASA’s astronaut training program, but, since she is a woman, she was not allowed to become an astronaut and go into space…
