INTRODUCTION
- On July 20, 2021, billionaire Jeff Bezos will launch his New Shepard rocket ship into space for the first time, in the first crewed mission of his rocket.
- The spacecraft will launch at 6.30 p.m. IST and will stay in orbit for little over ten minutes. It will transport the crew to the Karman line, which is 100 kilometres above sea level.
- Jeff Bezos will be joined by Wally Funk, an 82-year-old space race pioneer, his brother Mark Bezos, and an 18-year-old student. The party will fly in a space capsule with the largest windows ever flown into orbit, providing breath-taking vistas of the planet.
JEFF BEZOS AND CREW CREATING NEW RECORDS –
- Apart from being the first unpiloted launch, the inaugural crew flight of Jeff Bezos’ New Shepard Spacecraft will set a number of milestones. The spacecraft’s occupants comprise the world’s youngest and oldest space travellers.
- Apart from the oldest member, the team will also comprise Oliver Daeman, an 18-year-old adolescent who will be the youngest person in space. The Dutch youngster will fly into the space of the $28 million public auction winner, who has yet to be identified.
SPACE TOURISM THROUGH NEW SHEPARD AIRCRAFT –
- The New Shepard Rocketship, constructed by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, is aimed at the expanding space tourism sector.
- It is a reusable suborbital rocket, according to Blue Origin, that is meant to carry passengers, astronauts, and research payloads beyond the Karman line into space.
- The New Shepard Spacecraft is named after Alan Shepard, the first American to reach space in 1961. It will be launched from Blue Origin’s One Facility launch site as an autonomous spaceship.
- There will be no qualified astronauts piloting the spacecraft, the voyage via New Shepard will be the world’s first unpiloted mission to space with an all-civilian crew.
- To pave the path for commercial space flight, Bezos is up against SpaceX and Virgin Galactic.
