Blue Origin launch recap: Jeff Bezos soars to the edge of space in historic flight
Jeff Bezos and three others are launched to the edge of space on Tuesday.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos blasted to the edge of space and spent a few minutes outside Earth's atmosphere Tuesday on the first crewed flight from his firm Blue Origin.
An elated Bezos could be heard calling it "the best day ever" after landing back on Earth.
The milestone launch in the modern commercial space race comes on the 52nd anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's moon landing in 1969, though the space-faring landscape has evolved by giant leaps since then as billionaires emerge as key players driving the new race to the cosmos.
Bezos, who holds the title of the richest man in the world per Bloomberg data, has said the spaceflight will fulfill a lifelong dream and he is also curious how it will "change" him.
Here is how the launch unfolded.
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Bezos thanks Amazon employees, customers
Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon CEO earlier this month ahead of the launch, thanked the staff and customers of his e-commerce empire for funding the trip.
“I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer, because you guys paid for all of this,” he said during the post-launch news conference.
“Seriously, for every Amazon customer out there and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart,” he added.
Bezos has previously said that he sold some $1 billion in Amazon stock annually to fund Blue Origin in its infancy.
New Shepard crew receives astronaut pins
Blue Origin’s Jeff Ashby, a former Space Shuttle commander, presented astronaut wings to the four crew members at a post-launch press conference.
Ashby said the wings were designed with “a tiny blue sapphire” at the top, “to remind these folks that they are from planet Earth and that they have a mission to protect this home.”
While presenting wings to the Amazon founder, Ashby told Bezos, "There are few people I know more deserving of this."
"I don’t know what you are going to do next, but I can’t wait to watch," Ashby added.
An emotional Funk said it was the best pin she has ever received -- and promised there would be “more to come.”
Newly minted astronaut Jeff Bezos says spaceflight left him ‘speechless’
Shortly after landing back on Earth, the elated Amazon founder opened up about his experience in a brief interview with ABC News’ Michael Strahan.
“I’m speechless in a way … I don’t have the talent to put into words what we just experienced, maybe we need to send a poet up at some point or something,” Bezos said. “But it was incredible.”
Ahead of his flight, Bezos told Strahan he was curious how leaving Earth’s atmosphere would “change” him. Now that he’s returned, the billionaire said he was awestruck by how “tiny” and fragile our planet is.
“When you get up there, you see that it's this tiny, thin little thing that makes you realize just how precious it is and how fragile it is how much we need to take care of it,” he added.
Crew capsule reached an altitude of some 65.8 miles above ground level
Blue Origin released some statistics on the mission shortly after the capsule landed back on Earth.
The crew capsule reached an altitude of some 347,563 feet (approximately 65.8 miles) above ground level.
The maximum ascent velocity was some 2,233 mph.
In total, the mission was 10 minutes and 10 seconds.
’I want to go again,’ says an emotional Wally Funk
Funk officially became the oldest person ever to go to space on Tuesday and fulfilled a lifelong dream that had been put on hold for decades because she is a woman.
“I’ve been waiting a long time to finally get up there,” the emotional 82-year-old said after the spaceflight. “I didn't do dolls, I did outside stuff, I flew airplanes.”
Funk trained with the so-called Mercury 13 program for women astronauts in the '60s, but NASA at the time was only sending men into space.
She called her trip to space on Tuesday "wonderful" and "a great time."
The pioneer for women in aerospace also added that she is not done with space travel just yet, saying, “I want to go again, fast!”