The richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos made a trip to space in the first crewed flight of his rocket ship, New Shepard. His brother, Mark Bezos, 82 years old, pioneer of the space raceway, Ms Funk and an 18-year-old student went together with him on this journey. He made his first visit with a flight scheduled to launch at 9 am EDT on July 2, the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 1 moon landing. They travelled in the capsule with the biggest windows flown in space.
About Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos is a billionaire; founder of Amazon and he also holds a record for the world’s richest man. He recently resigned as CEO of Amazon, the e-commerce company he created to focus more on other ventures, Blue Giant included. Bezos is involved in other things too outside of business. He bought a Superyacht in May, he also enjoys fun; he loves to play poker online. He generally likes online games. Travelling to space is something he’s been hoping to achieve for a long time.
Members on the trip
As earlier stated, Jeff Bezos went together with his brother, Mark Bezos, the 82-year-old pioneer of the space raceway, Ms Funk and an eighteen-year-old student, Oliver Daemen.
Oliver Daemen is the son of a Dutch financier. He had originally secured a seat on the second flight but was drafted to replace a winner of an auction who had pulled out of the trip.
Bezos’s reaction versus public reaction
“Oh my God! My expectations were high and they were drastically exceeded. The zero-gravity piece might have been one of the biggest surprises because it felt so normal” Jeff Bezos told the reporters upon their (his and others who went with him) return.
The trip however caused a lot of controversies as Mr Jeff Bezos and others who went with him were criticized as the trip was considered a waste of money. Critics believed the money could have been used for something more reasonable and realistic such as pay rises for employees or even for fighting climate change.
Mr Jeff Bezos, however, insists that he has an environmental vision. He said “We need to take all heavy industry, all polluting industry and move it into space and keep the earth as this beautiful gem of a planet that it is”
“It’s going to take decades and decades to achieve but you have to start. Big things start with small steps and that’s what the sb orbital tourism mission allows us to do. It allows us to practice over and over” he told MSNBC.
Who built the “New Shepard?”
New Shepard was built by Jeff Bezos’ company, Blue Origin. The main purpose of this trip is to serve the burgeoning market for space tourism.
Jeff Bezos and his companies for the trip travelled in the capsule with the biggest windows flown in space. When the capsule returned after the ten minutes, ten seconds flight, Jeff Bezos exclaimed ” Best Day Ever”.
Comment from members of the trip
“It felt so normal” Jeff Bezos commented about the sensation of microgravity.
“It was fun, I loved it, I can’t wait to go again” Ms Funk added.
Back in the 1960s, Ms Funk was one member of a group of women called “Mercury 13″. They underwent the same screening as male astronauts but were not allowed to fly under the US national space programme.
Mr Jeff Bezos however, told CBS News on Monday ” Wally (Ms Funk) can outrun all of us. During the Mercury 13, she was better than all the men and I can still guarantee that today”
The mission was a dream come true for Ms Wally Funk. The trip was a dream come through for Jeff Bezos as well as other people who anticipated the trip and as a result, had sleepless nights to make the mission impossible.
