Jeff Bezos travels to space in his rocket
Billionaire Jeff Bezos made his first trip to space in his rocket ship, New Shepard on June 20. Bezos was accompanied by his brother, Mark Bezos, 82-year-old Willy Hunk, and an 18-year-old student Oliver Daemen.
The space flight took off from the west Texas desert, made a 10-minute hop to the Karmen line, and returned safely.
Karmen kine is the most widely recognized boundary of space that lies 100 kilometers above the Earth’s sea level.
What do we know about Jeff Bezos’s flight?
New Shepard, built by Bezos’s company Blue Origen, is designed to serve as the prospering market for space tourism. It’s a reusable rocket and capsule designed to take passengers into space flight. The capsule can carry up to six people, is entirely automated, and does not require a pilot. Two minutes into the flight, the capsule separated from its rocket and continued upward the Karman line. The rocket returns to the launch while the capsule falls back to earth with the assistance of parachutes. The capsule reached a maximum altitude of around 107 km (351,210ft) before starting its descent. At that height, passengers could experience weightlessness and admire the earth’s curvature. The air brakes are deployed while descending to reduce the speed by half.
Bezos said that he was surprised by the sensation of microgravity and added,” It felt so normal”.
Race to Space
Meanwhile, on July 11 Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Galactic, rocketed into space in his aircraft.
Bezos and Branson have been criticized for offering what appears like a joy ride for the super-rich. Critics said money should be used to spend on a pay rise for employees or fighting climate change. However, Bezos said that this was a part of his environmental vision.
