Bezos' Blue Origin completes fifth crewed flight launch
Blue Origin's fifth launch comes after a postponed date due to the backup system not meeting expectations
Jeff Bezos' space tourism venture Blue Origin completed its fifth crewed launch Saturday after a New Shepard rocket's backup system that had not met expectations delayed the voyage last month.
Blue Origin's fourth flight landed successfully in March in West Texas after taking six passengers for a 10-minute journey to the edge of space.
The Blue Origin site on the day the Blue Origin's rocket New Shepard blasts off on billionaire Jeff Bezos's company's fourth suborbital tourism flight with a six-person crew near Van Horn, Texas, March 31, 2022. (REUTERS/Ivan Pierre Aguirre / Reuters)
"It was an honor to fly this special crew of explorers and true pioneers today," said Phil Joyce, senior vice president for New Shepard.
"Each mission is an opportunity to provide another six people the life-changing experience of witnessing the beauty and fragility of our planet from space."
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Jeff Bezos' space tourism venture Blue Origin launches its fifth crewed capsule mission from its base near Van Horn, Texas, June 4, 2022, in a still image from video. (Blue Origin/Handout via REUTERS. / Reuters Photos)
The company's suborbital joyride lasts about 10 minutes from liftoff to touchdown and hits an altitude of about 350,000 feet (106 km), treating passengers to a few moments of weightlessness before a descent back to Earth for a parachute landing.
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It forms part on an ongoing effort by a handful of companies, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Richard Branson-founded Virgin Galactic, striving to make space travel a reality.
Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos speaks to the media about the company's sustainability efforts Sept. 19, 2019, in Washington, D.C. (Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
So far, Axiom, SpaceX and NASA have touted such missions as a milestone in the expansion of privately funded space-based commerce, constituting what industry insiders call the "low-Earth orbit economy," or "LEO economy."
The International Space Station (ISS) has hosted several wealthy space tourists over the years.
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Analysts applauded Saturday's latest series of ambitious rocket-powered expeditions bankrolled by private investment capital and wealthy passengers rather than taxpayer dollars six decades after the dawn of the space age.