Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Jeff Bezos will break the record of being the first to go into space without a pilot by plane Blue Origin, after the title of the first billionaire to space has been overtaken by his competitors Richard Branson.
Bezos, the former CEO of Amazon.com, will travel to the suborbital with four other civilian crew members. The 11-minute journey will reach the edge of space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard craft.
Also, at least Bezos’ flight will be slightly higher than Branson’s. Branson only reaches an altitude of 85 kilometers from Earth’s surface, while Bezos will fly at an altitude of 100 kilometers.
He will be traveling with his brother, 83-year-old aviator Wally Funk, and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen. Daemen is said to have paid for this flight. However, he was not the mysterious passenger who won the $28 million auction.
The plane from Bezos’ company is scheduled to launch from a launch site in West Texas on Tuesday (20/7).
The New Shepard is an 18.3-metre high, fully autonomous, fully-operated, capsule-type rocket combo aircraft.
The plane was completely inoperable from inside the cabin. The personnel on board the flight were arranged for civilians only, and no Blue Origin astronaut employees or staff.
“To see Earth from space, it changes you, it changes your relationship with the planet, with humanity,” Bezos said in a video last month discussing the flight.
Teal Group space industry analyst Marco Caceres says there has never been a fully autonomous suborbital or orbital flight with all civilian crews.
Concerns on Blue Origin’s Autonomous Spacecraft
–
– .
