The richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, is set to leave Earth for the first time on Tuesday in the company of an aviation student and pioneer who will become the youngest and oldest person in space.
Blue Origin, a company founded by the American tycoon in 2000 and also followed by his brother Mark, will depart Texas at 2:00 pm (mainland Portugal time).
If all goes according to plan, Jeff and Mark Bezos, 18-year-old Dutchman Oliver Daman and 82-year-old former American racer Wally Funk will see the Earth from a window and live in microgravity for three or four minutes before returning. to Earth, in the Texas desert, ten minutes after takeoff.
Oliver, whose multimillionaire father gave him a seat on the trip after another candidate turned down, has been fascinated by space, the moon and rockets since he was four and has a private pilot’s license. Wally, on the other hand, would pursue her dream of space travel after she was dropped from the astronaut program in the 1960s because she was a woman.
Blue Origin’s first manned flight takes place the day after 52 years after the arrival of the Americans and the first two humans to the lunar surface.
The New Shepard rocket, at the top of which is attached a capsule, along which four space tourists will follow, is autonomous and will reach an altitude of 106 kilometers, accelerating into space at three times the speed of sound. After separating from the capsule, New Shepard will land vertically in Texas.
Jeff Bezos, brother, apprentice and former pilot will return in a few minutes to the starting point in a capsule equipped with a parachute that will facilitate the descent to Earth.
Blue Origin’s first space travel tour soon followed Virgin Gallactic’s first flight, in which it followed British multimillionaire and CEO Richard Branson.
