American business magnate Jeff Bezos and three other co-passengers – his 53-year-old brother Mark, female aviation pioneer Wally Funk, 82, and Oliver Daemen, 18 – will be flying to the edge of space today. They will be travelling in the rocket developed by Bezos’ company Blue Origin.
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The four passengers will have call names during this mission. Mark Bezos’ call sign is going to be called “Demo”, while the other crew members will each be called by their last names during the 11-minute flight. The rocket will be launched at 6:30 PM IST.
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Hours before New Shepard’s take off, 57-year-old Jeff Bezos said he was excited and curious. %u201CPeople keep asking if I am nervous. I am not really nervous, I am excited. I am curious. I want to know what we are going to learn,%u201D Bezos told the %u2018CBS This Morning%u2019 programme on Monday.
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%u201CWe have been training. This vehicle is ready. This crew is ready. This team is amazing. We just feel really good about it,%u201D the Amazon founder added.
The anonymous person who was supposed to take the flight dropped out due to unspecified “scheduling conflicts,” Livemint reported.
The lift-off will happen from West Texas atop a New Shepard rocket. Bezos will become the only second person to take a space flight after last week’s Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic.
