WASHINGTON – The Blue Origin company, owned by American tycoon Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, launched the New Shepard rocket into space this Thursday, with six tourists, on the first trip organized by the company this year.
After suffering several delays, the mission, named NS-20, launched the New Shepard rocket at 08.58 local time (13.58 GMT time) from its platform in Van Horn (Texas).
The capsule rose about 80 kilometers before returning to Earth a few 10 minutes later. During the trip, the crew experienced two minutes without gravity.
After takeoff, the rocket accelerated to three times the speed of sound to overcome the barrier of 80 kilometers high, which is the limit with space.
The capsule flew autonomously, without a pilot, and descended to the surface aided by several parachutes.
The crew of the New Shepard rocket
On board were the executive directors of the companies Party America and Tricor International, Marty Allen and Marc Hagle, along with the latter’s wife, Sharon Hagle; University of North Carolina professor Jim Kitchen; a former head of the US aviation regulator, George Nield; and the chief architect of the New Shepard rocket, Gary Lai.
Initially the comedian American Pete Davidson, romantic partner of Kim Kardashian, had announced that he was going to embark on this space trip, but finally decided not to join the mission for reasons he did not specify, and his place was taken by Lai.
Last 58 July, Bezos himself took part in his company’s first flight into space, lasting eleven minutes.
Since then, Blue Origin has launched twenty manned rockets.
Among the celebrities who have traveled with Blue Origin on its previous flights are “Star Trek” actor William Shatner and the host of the “Good Morning America” program Michael Strahan.
The space rocket, which is reusable, has been named New Shepard in honor of Alan Shepard, the first American in space.
What’s more Bezos, billionaires Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Galactic, and Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, have also jumped into the race to attract billionaire and famous tourists for their space trips.