![]() In the run-up to the flight, the normally press-shy company suddenly turned showbiz, releasing glossy videos and photos of the crew decked out in their bright blue jumpsuits. It began with a show of confidence, the crew bubbling with enthusiasm as they prepared, and ended in a jubilant celebration of the newly minted astronauts as they reunited with their loved ones after their brief time away. Lasting only 10 minutes and 10 seconds, the flight seemed flawless, from launch to touchdown. (He actually was an underbidder the unknown person who originally won the auction with a $28 million bid postponed their fight due to “scheduling difficulties.”) The latter two are now the oldest and youngest humans to sample space travel. Joining Bezos-and the ranks of the 580 people who have previously traveled to space-were his brother Mark, 53, a volunteer fireman and philanthropist who now runs an equity fund Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk, an 82-year-old aviation pioneer who was denied a chance to become a Mercury astronaut because she was a woman and Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old student whose bid of millions won him the distinction of becoming Blue’s first paying customer. He was the first passenger on New Shepard, the suborbital rocket system built by his company, Blue Origin. It took him a little over three minutes to achieve that altitude. Today, funded by the billions of dollars he made from that much-expanded company, Jeff Bezos traveled the most important 65 miles in his life: straight up, to the doorstep of space. Assuming a normal highway speed, they would have zipped past 65 mile markers every hour during their 2,500-mile journey. ![]() Mr Musk said his company had “learned a lot” from the failure.In 1994, Jeff Bezos and his then-wife, MacKenzie, drove from New York City to Seattle so he could start a new company to sell books on the internet. ![]() SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket exploded over the Gulf of Mexico during a test flight in April. Technical faults and explosions are not unusual in the sector. Sir Richard Branson beat Mr Bezos into space on a Virgin Galactic mission in July 2021, just nine days before Blue Origin’s first flight.Įlon Musk’s SpaceX also launched its first private crewed flight into orbit last September, although Mr Musk himself did not go. Space tourism has become a battleground for high-profile billionaires, with Sir Richard Branson and Elon Musk both operating competing rocket and space exploration businesses. ![]() Star Trek actor William Shatner is among the people to have visited space on a Blue Origin flight alongside Mr Bezos. Alongside manufacturing rockets for corporate clients, the company ran its first private space tourism flight in 2021 and has been running missions since. ULA is the rocket-building joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which competes with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to win lucrative military launch contracts.īE-4’s test failure threatens to further push back the already-delayed first launch of ULA’s Vulcan rocket, which was recently rescheduled to the fourth quarter of this year.īlue Origin was founded in 2000 by Amazon entrepreneur Jeff Bezos as a private space company. The company said it “immediately” made its customer ULA aware of the incident. No one was injured in the incident and the company said it was assessing the “root cause,” adding “we already have a proximate cause and are working on remedial actions.” ![]() The blast occurred last month during testing of its BE-4 rocket, according to CNBC.Īn engine detonated about 10 seconds into the test during a firing on June 30 at the company’s facility in West Texas, it was reported.Ī Blue Origin spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that the company “ran into an issue while testing Vulcan’s Flight Engine 3.” Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin has suffered a setback after a rocket explosion during testing, in a blow to the billionaire’s space business. ![]()
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