What is Blue Origin?
AMAZON founder Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark made history by going to space in July 2021.
The billionaire received backlash from the public after taking the trip, with many threatening to boycott Amazon over the adventure.
What is Blue Origin?
Blue Origin is an American privately-funded aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services founded by Jeff Bezos.
The businessman founded the company in 2000, with Bob Smith serving as the CEO.
The company is headquartered in Kent, Washington, and employs over 3,500 people.
Blue Origin aims to make access to space cheaper and more reliable through reusable launch vehicles.
The company's name refers to the blue planet, Earth, as the point of origin.
What does the Blue Origin spaceship look like?
Bezos and his brother Mark traveled on the New Shephard, a reusable rocket with an attached capsule.
It is high enough to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of the planet before the pressurized capsule returns to earth under parachutes.
The capsule features six observation windows Blue Origin says are nearly three times as tall as those on a Boeing 747 jetliner and the largest ever used in space.
"The view will be spectacular," Blue Origin's Director of Astronaut Sales, Ariane Cornell, previously told a media briefing.
The reusable New Shepard booster launched and landed in West Texas.
What did Jeff Bezos say about going to space?
Bezos and Mark posted a video to his Instagram explaining the reason for the journey, saying: “I want to go on this flight because it’s the thing I’ve wanted to do all my life.”
Mark chimed in saying: “I wasn’t even expecting him to say that he was going to be on the first flight.
“What a remarkable opportunity, not only to have this adventure but to do it with my best friend.”
Who has been to space with Jeff Bezos?
A mysterious bidder who paid $28million to travel on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket ship was too busy to take the trip on July 20.
The anonymous ticket holder was forced to cancel due to "scheduling conflicts," Blue Origin said in its latest announcement.
Instead, they were replaced by 18-year-old Daeman, a recent high school graduate, whose father paid for the trip.
Newcomer Daeman was the youngest person to fly to space and joined 82-year-old Funk, who was at the time the oldest ever astronaut.
They joined Bezos and his brother Mark on a voyage across space on the New Shepard rocket.
The trio also traveled with Wally Funk, a pilot.
24 hours before the launch at Launch Site One in Texas, the crew revealed they were not afraid for the flight.
"We'll be building a road to space for the next generation to do amazing things and those amazing things will improve things here on earth," the former Amazon CEO said.
On November 23, 2021, it was announced that Blue Origin is slated to take another trip to space with new passengers.
Those scheduled to hop in the rocket are Alan Shepard's daughter Laura Shepard Churchley and Good Morning America host Michael Strahan.
Executive and philanthropist Dylan Taylor, investor Evan Dick, Bess Ventures founder Lane Bess, and Cameron Bess will also join the trip.
Lane and Cameron Bess will become the first parent-child pair to fly in space.
This will mark New Shepard’s "third human flight this year, the sixth for the program in 2021, and the 19th in its history," according to the Blue Origin website.
Liftoff is scheduled for 9am CT on Thursday, December 9 from the company’s "Launch Site One" facility.
Did William Shatner also go to space?
On October 13, 2021, William Shatner became the oldest astronaut, when Blue Origin launched its second successful flight to space.
William was joined by Audrey Powers, Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operations, Dr. Chris Boshuizen, former NASA engineer and Planet Labs co-founder, and Glen de Vries, Medidata co-founder and Dassault Systèmes' vice-chair of life sciences and healthcare.
Blue Origin has more flight plans to follow in 2022.
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