Jeff Bezos‘ boyhood goal of becoming an astronaut has come true. The world’s wealthiest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and his crew have safely returned to Earth following a successful launch by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin from West Texas on Tuesday (20.07.21).
The 57-year-old millionaire piloted the New Shepard rocket with his younger brother Mark, as well as 18-year-old Dutchman Oliver Daemen and 82-year-old aerospace pioneer Wally Funk, who became the youngest and oldest individuals to fly to space, respectively.
The capsule detached from its rocket around two minutes into the journey before continuing higher towards the Karman Line, the most well-known border of space, which is 100 kilometres in the air.
The party travelled to space for around 11 minutes and were able to get out of their seats and float around the cabin for about four minutes before parachuting back down.
Oliver, Blue Origin’s first paying passenger, took the place of an unidentified individual who had spent $28 million for a ticket on the trip but then postponed their spot “due to scheduling problems,” despite knowing the flight’s scheduled date before bidding.
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