World’s richest man Jeff Bezos travels to space in his own rocket

• Goes above Karman Line, the space boundary recognised internationally
• Virgin Galactic took a similar flight to a lower altitude of 53.5 miles, where passengers also experienced weightlessness.

New Delhi: Amazon Founder and Executive Chairman Jeffrey Preston Bezos (Jeff Bezos) and three others landed on Tuesday after Blue Origin’s first flight to space with passengers aboard, a key milestone in the company’s effort to make space tourism viable. Bezos shared a video of him and other crew members floating in space in Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft during the suborbital flight.

Blue Origin’s New Shephard capsule, carrying a crew of four including Bezos, the world’s richest man, breached the boundary of space as it reached an altitude of 66.5 miles (107 kilometers). The capsule then drifted back to the Earth beneath six parachutes.

The successful mission caps a landmark month for space-tourism ventures, following by nine days a trip to space by U.K. billionaire Richard Branson on a special plane made by Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., a rival to Blue Origin. Virgin Galactic took a similar flight to a lower altitude of 53.5 miles, where passengers also experienced weightlessness. 

Branson congratulated the Blue Origin crew for the major milestone in commercial spaceflight. Both companies are set to expand operations with plans to entice super-wealthy customers to pay big money for a unique travel experience.

A 10-foot-tall capsule with large windows and reclining leather seats detached from the booster and ascended beyond the Karman Line 107 kilometers above the Earth, where the passengers experienced a few minutes of weightlessness and unforgettable views. 

In the video posted on Instagram, Bezos, his brother Mark, Wally Funk and Olive Daemen can be seen floating inside the space capsule that blasted off the New Shepard rocket from Blue Origin’s private launch site in the West Texas desert. “This is how it starts. #gradatimferociter,” wrote Bezos on Instagram, referring to Blue Origin’s motto which means “Step by Step, Ferociously” in Latin.

The 93-second long video clip shows the crew members experiencing zero-g outside the Earth’s atmosphere after they travelled above the Karman Line, the internationally-recognised boundary of space. As they were performing somersaults in near-zero gravity, Earth was visible in the background through the huge windows of the spacecraft.

The first human spaceflight from Blue Origin safely touched down after about 10 minutes of flight. It was the first time in the history of a commercial company launching a privately funded and built spacecraft from a private launch range with astronauts on board.

“Every astronaut who’s been up into space, they say that it changes them… they look at it and they’re kind of amazed and awestruck by the Earth and its beauty, but also by its fragility, and I can vouch for that,” Bezos told reporters after the successful flight.

Soon after the landing, Bezos announced a 100 million dollar “Courage and Civility” award. This award will be conferred on leaders who engage the public to counter challenges facing the human race. The first two “Courage and Civility” awards have been conferred on American political commentator Van Jones and celebrity chef José Andrés.

Bezos has been selling Amazon stock to fund Blue Origin, which is based in Kent, Washington, now has 3,500 employees and also builds rocket engines used to launch satellites. Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO earlier this month to become Executive Chairman of the e-commerce giant.