Jeff Bezos takes off for space in his Blue Origin spaceflight with 3 others

Jeff Bezos, the wealthiest man on the planet, took off for space onboard his own rocket New Shepard at 6.42pm IST on Tuesday. Accompanying him on the flight are his brother and two other passengers. Blue Origin’s first crewed mission is an 11-minute hop from west Texas to beyond the Karman line and back and it coincides with the 52nd anniversary of the first Moon landing.

On July 11, Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson flew to space and back, narrowly beating the Amazon magnate in the billionaires’ battle for space.

Bezos, 57, founded Blue Origin in 2000 with the goal of one day building floating space colonies with artificial gravity where millions of people will work and live.

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New Shepard has so far flown 15 uncrewed flights to put it through its paces and test safety mechanisms, like firing the capsule away from the launchpad if the rocket explodes, or landing it with one less parachute.

“We learned how to make a vehicle safe enough that we’d be willing to put our own loved ones on it, and send them to space,” Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said at a briefing on Sunday.

Bezos was joined by barrier-breaking female aviator Wally Funk, 82, and 18-year-old Dutchman Oliver Daemen. His younger brother and best friend Mark, who directs the Bezos Family Foundation and works as a volunteer firefighter, was also part of it.

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The rocket careened towards space at speeds exceeding 2,300 mph (3700 kph) using a liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen engine whose only byproduct is water vapor. The capsule separated from its booster.

Blue Origin has remained relatively coy about what comes next. 

The company says it plans two more flights this year, then “many more” next year.