British billionaire Richard Branson during his spaceflight on Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft VSS Unity.
British billionaire Richard Branson has congratulated the world’s richest man and Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos for traveling to the edge of space in his company Blue Origin’s fully automated New Shepard rocket.
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, who himself as part of this remarkable team of mission experts traveled to space to test the customer experience on Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft VSS Unity – and now the astronauts – took to Twitter, and Jeff Congratulating Bezos and crew, saying, “Well done
@blueorigin, @jeffbezos, Mark, Wally and Oliver. Impressive! My best wishes to all the crew and the entire team at @virgingalactic.”
As part of this remarkable crew of mission experts it was honored to test the incredible customer experience aboard Virgin Galactic’s spaceship VSS Unity – and now astronaut, Richard Branson said during its space flight.
Jeff Bezos launched to the edge of space on Tuesday with his brother Mark, 82-year-old female aviator Wally Funk and 18-year-old physics student Oliver Damen on a fully automated New Shepard rocket from his company Blue Origin.
New Shepard launched its first manned flight, NS-16, from Launch Site One in West Texas at 9 a.m. EDT (6.30 p.m. IST).
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The rocket aims to fly beyond the Karman Line and the journey will last about 11 minutes from launch to capsule landing. Astronauts will experience three to four minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth in their space capsules.
British billionaire Richard Branson during his spaceflight on Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft VSS Unity.
What is the Karman Line in Space Travel?
The Karman Line, 100 km above ground, is the internationally recognized boundary of space. The 57-year-old billionaire said he is not nervous but excited.
Bezos, 57, said, “People keep asking if I’m nervous. I’m not really nervous, I’m excited. I’m curious. I want to know what we’re going to learn.” “CBS This Morning” program on Tuesdays.
“We’re training. This vehicle is ready. This crew is ready. This team is amazing. We feel really good about it,” he said.
first time in history
“Today is the first time in history that a commercial company will launch a privately funded and built spacecraft with astronauts from a private launch range,” Blue Origin shared in a tweet ahead of the launch.
Bezos’ flight follows Richard Branson’s flight to the edge of space on July 11 aboard VSS Unity of his company Virgin Galactic. Branson’s flight, however, did not go beyond the Karman line. It climbed about 86 km above the surface of the Earth.
“Wishing the entire @blueorigin team a successful and safe flight from all of us,” Virgin Galactic said in a tweet on Tuesday.
Bezos’ flight is touted as the world’s first pilotless suborbital flight.
What is Blue Origin’s Shepard Rocket?
The five-story-tall New Shepard rocket, named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space, is designed to launch a crew capsule with seats about 340,000 feet into the sky toward the edge of space. Above the booster is a gumdrop-shaped crew capsule with room for six passengers inside and large windows.
After reaching the Line of Karman, the capsule will separate from the booster, allowing people inside to see the curvature of the Earth and experience weightlessness. The booster and capsule will then land separately, and the capsule will parachute down into the desert of West Texas.
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