Jeff Bezos Makes History in Successful Space Flight: Watch Live Updates Here The launch is now set to take place at 9:15 AM EST.
By Emily Rella •
Billionaire Jeff Bezos will make history in his historic flight among his space exploration company, Blue Origin's, New Shepard rocketship on July 20.
The flight is now set to launch at 9:15 am EST and expected to last an estimated 11 minutes.
It will be the first fully-crewed flight for Blue Origin, taking place symbolically on the 52-year anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Among those who have boarded the ship alongside Bezos are the Amazon founder's brother, Mark Bezos, 82-year-old Mercury 13 pilot Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen.
The flight includes both the youngest and oldest person in history to fly into space, and having both on the same flight makes Tuesday's launch truly monumental.
Watch the launch live here:
"We have lots of problems here and now on Earth and we need to work on those, and we always need to look to the future," Bezos said in a pre-flight interview to CNN. "We've always done that as a species, as a civilization. We have to do both."
The flight has been highly publicized as Blue Origin held an auction for the coveted spot among the ship that began in May. The winning seat closed for a solid $28 million.
"It's time for astronauts to climb onboard," Blue Origin said in a statement at the time. "This seat will change how you see the world."
The New Shepard rocketship has launched 15 successful missions to space without a crew, but this flight will be its first with humans on board.
Update (9:15 AM): The New Shepard rocket successfully launched just before 9:12 AM EST. It reached Max Q at around 9:13 AM EST.
9:20 AM: Jeff Bezos and his crew have officially reached space after passing the Karman Line at about 62-miles above the air. The Karman Line is considered to be the boundary line where space begins.
9:22 AM: The capsule of the New Shepard has touched down and Bezos and his crew have successfully returned on Earth's ground.
9:26 AM: Blue Origin congratulations the astronauts on their successful flight. "This first astronaut crew wrote themselves into the history books of space, opening the door through which many after will pass," the company said.
Congratulations to all of Team Blue past and present on reaching this historic moment in spaceflight history. This first astronaut crew wrote themselves into the history books of space, opening the door through which many after will pass. #GradatimFerociter #NSFirstHumanFlight
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 20, 2021
9:50 AM: Billionaire Richard Branson, who beat Bezos to space aboard his Virgin Galactic flight on July 12, congraulated his fellow spacegoer and crew on Tuesday's flight, calling the trip "impressive."
Well done @blueorigin, @jeffbezos, Mark, Wally and Oliver. Impressive! Very best to all the crew from me and all the team at @virgingalactic
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 20, 2021
Entrepreneur will continue to live update this article.
