Blue Origin completes first human flight

Blue Origin has safely completed its launch into space, becoming the first flight to take four private citizens into space.

The crew of the New Shepard included Amazon founder Jeff…


Blue Origin has safely completed its launch into space, becoming the first flight to take four private citizens into space.

The crew of the New Shepard included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen, who all officially became astronauts when they passed the Kármán Line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.

Record broke records for oldest and youngest in space

The flight broke age records with Wally Funk, 82, becoming the oldest person to fly in space, sixty years after completing her astronaut training with NASA. Oliver Daemen, 18, was the first ever commercial astronaut to purchase a ticket and fly to space on a privately-funded and licensed space vehicle from a private launch site. He also became the youngest person to fly in space.

New Shepard became the first commercial vehicle under a suborbital reusable launch vehicle license to fly paying customers, both payloads and astronauts, to space and back. Jeff and Mark Bezos also became the first siblings to ever fly in space together.

First commercial flight was “only the beginning”

Upon landing, the astronauts were greeted by their families and Blue Origin’s ground operations team for a celebration in the West Texas desert.

Bob Smith, CEO, Blue Origin said: “Today was a monumental day for Blue Origin and human spaceflight. I am so incredibly proud of Team Blue, their professionalism, and expertise in executing today’s flight. This was a big step forward for us and is only the beginning.”

Blue Origin expects to fly two more crewed flights this year, with many more crewed flights planned for 2022.

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