Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and world’s richest man, is all set to take off for space aboard his company Blue Origin’s New Shepard at 6.30 pm IST on Tuesday. He will be accompanied by his younger brother, Mark Bezos, an 82-year-old pilot named Wally Funk, and an 18-year old recent high school graduate, Oliver Daemen.
According to Blue Origin’s website, there are a few limitations on who can take the flight. Here are a set of physical requirements laid out by the company-
- One must be in good enough
physical shape to climb seven flights of stairs in a minute and a half - One must be 18 years of age or older
- One must be between 5’0″ and 6’4″ in height and between 110 pounds and 223 pounds in weight
- One must be able to fasten and unfasten a seat harness in less than 15 seconds
- One must be able to spend up to an hour and a half strapped into the capsule with the hatch closed
The four people will blast off to space from a desert site in West Texas on an 11-minute trip. Prior to the trip, Bezos said he was not really nervous about it.
“People 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,” Bezos told ‘CBS This Morning’ programme on Monday.
“We have been training. This vehicle is ready. This crew is ready. This team is amazing. We just feel really good about it,” the Amazon founder added.
Also Read: What will be call names of the passengers of Blue Origin’s New Shepard flight?
Wally Funk is an 82-year-old American aviator, who was a member of the Mercury 13 project and also the first female aviation safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. Funk will be the oldest person to travel to space.
Oliver Daemon, on the other hand, will be the youngest person to travel to space. He is the son of millionaire Joes Daemon, founder and CEO of Somerset Capital Partners — a Dutch investment company.
