Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Update
100 kilometers in ten minutes
Amazon founder Bezos landed after an all excursion
On the anniversary of the moon landing, the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, is taking a trip to the edge of space from the Texas desert. His ten-minute flight takes him to an altitude of 100 kilometers – and thus higher than billionaire Branson.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has successfully completed a short excursion into space. The 57-year-old took off from the US state of Texas on board the “New Shepard” spacecraft of his company Blue Origin, as was shown on a live broadcast of the company.
About ten minutes later, the capsule landed back on earth with four occupants. The propulsion rocket had already landed safely on earth beforehand.
Also on board the first manned space flight of the “New Shepard” were Bezos’ brother Mark as well as an 82-year-old former US pilot and an 18-year-old from the Netherlands, whose father gave him the flight.
Overall, the fully automated flight led to an altitude of more than 100 kilometers. After launch, the spacecraft accelerated to more than 3,700 kilometers per hour within two minutes. Shortly afterwards, the capsule separated from the reusable missile. Weightlessness set in, the four passengers were allowed to leave their seats for a short time – laughter and cheers could be heard. At its highest point, the capsule reached more than 100 kilometers above the earth before it landed in the west Texas desert, braked by large parachutes.
Ten days ago, another billionaire, Richard Branson from Britain, took a short excursion into space with his own spaceship – in this case the “VSS Unity” from Virgin Galactic.
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