In a tribute to that mission, Blue Origin launched on the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing – July 20.īezos also named his New Shepard rocket after the first American to fly into space, Alan Shepard. Apollo inspirationīezos has been open about his fascination with space from a young age, saying that the Apollo moon landing changed his life and inspired him to pursue space travel. “We’re so thankful to everyone who made this happen,” Jeff Bezos said as he stepped out of the capsule. When the door opened, Funk emerged with her arms raised in victory. With its passengers strapped back in, the capsule began its descent through the atmosphere before landing gently in the Texas desert. “You have a very happy crew up here,” Jeff Bezos radioed down as the four passengers floated through the cabin. “It’s so dark up here,” said Wally Funk as the crew took in views of the Earth and the blackness of space. “Wow, wow, wow,” passengers could be heard saying as they glimpsed space for the first time. Jubilant cheers erupted from the New Shepard capsule as Bezos and his fellow passengers crossed the Karman line – the official boundary to space. The rocket leaped off the pad right on time and began the climb to space.įollowing separation from the crew capsule, which kept ascending, the rocket returned to Earth, bearing some new scorch marks from its trip through the atmosphere. The team did official communications checks to make sure each passenger could chat with mission control and was safely strapped in.įrom there it was all business as the minutes ticked away to liftoff. The crew donned their special blue suits and climbed into the New Shepard crew capsule 45 minutes before blasting off into space. The flight was full of other firsts: at 82, Funk is the oldest person ever to fly in space, and at 18, Daemen is the youngest. At 82, Wally Funk shattered the record for the oldest person to fly into space įollowing liftoff from its launch site in West Texas in the United States, the craft climbed above the Earth, crossing the official boundary of space.īezos and the other passengers experienced about three minutes of weightlessness and stunning views through what the company boasts are the largest windows ever built on a space capsule.Īfter free-floating briefly, the crew strapped into their seats once more before plunging back into the lower atmosphere and parachuting down to land. ![]() The flight is a huge milestone for Blue Origin, which was founded by Bezos in 2000, as Tuesday’s launch marked the first time one of the company’s New Shepard spacecraft carried people. ![]() On Tuesday, Bezos, his brother, Mark Bezos, veteran pilot Wally Funk and Dutch student Oliver Daemen blasted off on a 10-minute suborbital flight on board the New Shepard rocket in a giant leap forward for commercial space travel. and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and his three crewmates have successfully landed after embarking on a mission 20 years in the making.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |