United Front Intl
No Result
View All Result
Monday, February 6, 2023
  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Coronavirus
  • Videos
  • Be in the Know
  • ShopNew
Contact us
United Front Intl
  • Home
  • US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Coronavirus
  • Videos
  • Be in the Know
  • ShopNew

No products in the cart.

No Result
View All Result
United Front Intl
No Result
View All Result
Home US

Jeff Bezos successfully completes space flight

Amazon founder reached 100km above earth on a 60ft rocket on Tuesday

by admin
July 20, 2021
in US
Jeff Bezos successfully completes space flight

Left to right: Mark Bezos, Jeff Bezos, Oliver Daemen and Wally Funk © Blue Origin

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Financial Times
Richard Waters in Van Horn, Texas

Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder-turned-private space entrepreneur and philanthropist, reached the lower reaches of space over the West Texas desert early Tuesday, fulfilling a boyhood dream and ending a long series of delays for his private space company.

The world’s richest man and three others were propelled to a height of 107km, some 7km above the internationally recognised boundary of space, on a 60ft rocket built by Blue Origin.

They experienced around three minutes of weightlessness and views of the Earth through giant portholes the company has dubbed the “largest windows in space”, before their capsule drifted back to the desert floor for a soft landing under three parachutes.

The Amazon founder, who has faced criticism for spending billions on his personal jaunt into space, has dismissed claims that he was turning his back on more serious issues. “We’ll be building a road to space, to do amazing things that solve problems here on Earth,” he told CNN before Tuesday’s flight.

He has said that development in space will eventually ease the burdens on the planet, claiming: “All polluting industry will move off Earth, and Earth will end up zoned residential.”

The launch marks the first for a paying passenger on a rocket to be entirely developed and operated by a private company. Oliver Daemen, 18, the son of a Dutch hedge fund manager, was given a last-minute place on the flight after the unnamed winner of an auction for the seat cried off due to what the company called a “scheduling conflict”.

“This is a big moment for commercial space, it’s hugely significant,” said Greg Autry, a former White House liaison to Nasa. Besides signalling the beginning of suborbital space tourism, the flight showed Blue Origin had perfected technologies that will power far more ambitious launches in future, he added.

A grinning Bezos emerged from the capsule minutes after touchdown in a battered cowboy hat to exchange high-fives with a gaggle of well-wishers who had rushed to the landing site. He had climbed the tower to the capsule 30 minutes before the planned launch, after being driven to the rocket in a Rivian electric van — the vehicle Amazon plans to turn into the main workhorse for its ecommerce deliveries.

The 10-minute excursion marked the launch of Blue Origin’s suborbital space tourism business and the biggest step yet in Bezos’s grand plan to turn humanity into a space-borne civilisation.

The trip follows years of slow progress that have consumed billions of dollars of his personal fortune, and comes two weeks after the 57-year-old stepped aside as chief executive officer of Amazon to free himself for personal enthusiasms.

The ecommerce pioneer was beaten to space by Sir Richard Branson, who rode a Virgin Galactic spaceplane to a height of 86km nine days ago. But while the British entrepreneur has set his sights squarely on space tourism, Bezos has more expansive plans.

Blue Origin is also working on a giant rocket capable of reaching orbit, a family of engines it has offered to other rocket companies, and a lunar lander — things that he claims will benefit from his company’s first foray to the edge of space.

The New Shepard rocket, named after the US astronaut Alan Shepard, launched from a site near Van Horn, a strip of shabby motels surrounded by sagebrush and scrubland where locals have been hoping for an economic boost from the new space venture.

In a rare dash of colour and hope marking the optimism that the Amazon founder has promised to bring to the area, a large mural painted on one city corner depicts a smiling Bezos striking a heroic pose in aviator glasses, a blue Earth looming behind him.

Bezos’s brother, Mark, and Wally Funk, 82, once a member of the first female intake at Nasa to undergo astronaut training, were also on board the Blue Origin flight, its first to carry passengers.

Related

ShareTweetSendSend

Related Posts

The border buses: New York City’s migrant crisis | States of America
Videos

The border buses: New York City’s migrant crisis | States of America

January 30, 2023
President Biden Delivers Remarks at the National Action Network Martin Luther King, Jr Day Breakfast
Videos

President Biden Delivers Remarks at the National Action Network Martin Luther King, Jr Day Breakfast

January 17, 2023
Speaker McCarthy: A weakened leader or emboldened survivor?
Politics

Speaker McCarthy: A weakened leader or emboldened survivor?

January 8, 2023
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Opening Remarks
Videos

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Opening Remarks

January 8, 2023
January 6 committee: What’s next for Trump legally and politically
US

January 6 committee: What’s next for Trump legally and politically

December 19, 2022
US President Joe Biden speaks at COP27 climate summit
Videos

US President Joe Biden speaks at COP27 climate summit

November 11, 2022

My Cart

The border buses: New York City’s migrant crisis | States of America
Videos

The border buses: New York City’s migrant crisis | States of America

by admin
January 30, 2023

Categories

  • Be in the Know
  • Coronavirus
  • Politics
  • US
  • Videos
  • World

UnitedFrontIntl Store

My Account & Ordering
Cart
Checkout
Track My Order
Refund and Returns Policy
Privacy Policy
FAQs

Site Navigation

  • Home
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • About Us
  • Shipping Policy

Links

CNBC
Reuters

The New York Times
The Washington Post


Your tax-deductible gift is vital and will help us fund and maintain our website to bring you current news and information on a daily basis. Thank you in advance.

© 2022 United Front Intl

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Coronavirus
  • Videos
  • Be in the Know
  • Contact Us
  • Advertisement
  • Shop

© 2022 United Front Intl

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In