Billionaire Jeff Bezos has made a short journey to space, in the first crewed flight of his rocket ship, New Shepard. New Shepard, built by Bezos' company Blue Origin, is designed for space tourism.
Blue Origin recently announced they are planning to conduct the first crewed flight with the New Shepard by July 20th. In addition to the Blue Origin astronaut crew, one seat is being set aside for a commercial passenger.
Blue Origin says it is “very, very close” to flying humans on suborbital launches to the edge of space after a successful test flight of a human-capable rocket and capsule last Thursday.
Unlike some previous test missions, Wednesday's New Shepard flight followed the same profile that space tourists will take. But The company has yet to begin selling tickets for the six-person capsule.
Blue Origin flew its New Shepard system for the eighth time on Sunday. The company seems to be getting closer to flying people on the suborbital tourism launch system—and perhaps beginning ticket sales.
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos provided a sneak peek today into the interior of the New Shepard crew capsule, the suborbital vehicle for space tourism.
Future tests will put the New Shepard spacecraft through more rigors before people fly aboard.
