Bezos’ company is called Blue Origin. This led to the construction of a missile, New Shepard, which, after being launched in Texas, should reach an altitude of more than 100 km. The passengers are weightless there for a few minutes and see the curvature of the Earth. The craft then plunges back into the atmosphere to land again on Earth. The vehicle is not going high and not fast enough to orbit the Earth.
Blue Origin announced its plans for its first flight in May. One of the places on the plane is up for auction. So far, nearly 6,000 people from 143 countries have submitted an offer. According to Blue Origin, the highest bid is around $2.8 million, which has been converted to €2.3 million.
Bezos will step down as Amazon CEO on July 5.
SpaceX’s competitor to entrepreneur Elon Musk (PayPal, Tesla) is bringing professional astronauts to the ISS. Later this year, he wants to give some civilians a chance to go into space. Musk wants a Japanese businessman to fly around the moon in a few years. In addition, within a few years, SpaceX should put astronauts on the Moon and return them safely to Earth. Musk received a $1 billion order from NASA. Blue Origin, who missed it, defies the decision.
Another company, Virgin Galactic, by Richard Branson, is working on commercial space cruises.
