Jeff Bezos will be part of the first crew of space tourists aboard the New Shepard of Blue Origin, the space company of which he is the founder. The epoch-making flight is set in just over a month.
The recent news of Jeff Bezos' resignation, ready to leave the command of the giant Amazon after more than 20 years, has inevitably made the rounds of the world. Leaving a bit 'all incredulous. Now the tycoon is back to talk about himself, because of a trip among the stars that will see him as a protagonist very soon together with his brother.
The entrepreneur from Seattle has in fact planned a new adventure in space. The announcement came via a video posted on his Instagram account, in which he appeared alongside his brother Mark. With them there will also be a third mysterious passenger, winner of the place auctioned not yet selected. The three will be launched on July 20 this year aboard the New Shepard, launcher for suborbital flights built by Blue Origin, a private space company founded by Bezos himself.
This is the first suborbital space flight with a crew on board. For what promises to be an epoch-making experience destined for few people in the world. Currently, the auction to participate is still open - it will close on June 10 -, with the bids having touched the impressive figure of $ 2.8 million, about 2.3 million euros.
The incredible adventure of Blue Origin
In the meantime, the Bezos brothers tell how a trip into space is a dream cultivated for a long time, since they were just children. It's no coincidence that the Amazon dad says on social media that it will be particularly exciting not only to join such a special crew, but especially to do it with what he considers his best friend:
Since I was five years old, I dreamed of traveling in space. On July 20, I will be leaving on this trip with my brother. The biggest adventure, with my best friend.
In fact, Jeff and Mark will be among the first space tourists, hosted by the futuristic lines of the reusable New Shepard rocket featuring the Crew Capsule, equipped with enough space to accommodate six passengers. The rocket, named after the first U.S. astronaut in space, Alan Shepard, will lift off from the ground in just over a month and a half for a flight - an intense one - of about 10 minutes. Once it reaches the Kàrmàn line, 100 kilometers above sea level, its capsule will detach from the booster to allow the three passengers to see the curvature of the Earth and experience the absence of gravity. The return landing will instead take place in the West Texas desert, with the help of a parachute and traveling at a speed of about 26 kilometers per hour.
For some time now, there has been talk of opening up these short and fairly close space trips to passengers who are not professional astronauts, provided they are in optimal mental and physical condition. Suborbital flights could in the future facilitate intercontinental travel and are in the ambitious sights of space entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk and his SpaceX.
Andrea Guerriero