Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket rode straight to space carrying former Amazon CEO and founder of Blue Origin Jeff Bezos and three others on Tuesday. This marks a milestone for Blue Origin.
Unlike its industry rival SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, Blue Origin has been secretive about its developments in Space science. Now that the first remarkable trip is successful, what is in the pipeline for Blue Origin?
As per information, Blue Origin is all set to offer its customers a trip to space aboard the New Shepard rocket from late 2021. The said trip will be brief and include 6 people to experience the thrill of weightlessness for approximately 4 minutes.
The price tag on the space trip is still under wraps, however, the company claims that it has a roster of customers all ready to pay the moola for the experience. One of those is an anonymous customer who bid $28 million for a chance to fly on this inaugural flight but had to postpone the trip to space at the last minute because of “scheduling conflicts,” the company said in its official website.
Jeff Bezos’s company has a lot under its wings for the future. Blue Origin is working on the design of a lunar lander and a larger rocket, called New Glenn, with an aim to carry mankind to Earth’s orbit and beyond. The projects are being carried out to finally realise Jeff Bezos’ dream of establishing space colonies when the resources on Earth are depleted. “These are very large structures, miles on end, and they hold a million people or more each,” Bezos told NBC News.
According to industry analyst Carissa Christensen, founder and CEO of Bryce Space and Technology, an aerospace consulting firm, sending passengers on suborbital flights is a logical first step aligned with that vision. “I take very literally what Jeff Bezos has said publicly, that he really believes in the importance and the value of human access to space, of broadening and expanding that access, of enabling a future where people live and work in space,” Christensen said. “There are plenty of ways for Jeff Bezos to spend his time and his treasure, but he’s chosen to put his personal finances into a launch company,” she told CNN.
While Jeff Bezos’ vision for Blue Origin has taken the first towards its materialisation, it will take some time to see whether suborbital flights will be as enticing for regular clients as creators and business owners hope.