Billionaire to Rocket Man: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Prepares For Space
It looks like Jeff Bezos is going to pull off a Richard Branson and try his hand at launching himself straight into the Van Allen belt. Almost two decades of planning have gone into making Bezos’ vision a reality, and now the time is getting close for yet another billionaire to travel on an orbital voyage. Who would have thought that the world’s richest men would want this kind of a thrill? I can understand the excitement though. It’s not everyday we get to see public figures shoot themselves up into space. Who knows, maybe this is the starting point that will lead to commercial space travel.
Bezos and three other crew members will be traveling inside his company Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft. His crew members comprise of his own brother, Mark Bezos, An aviator by the name of Wally Funk, and a person who has yet to have been identified. The unknown person reportedly paid about $28 million to board the spacecraft. I don’t know if I would’ve spent all that cash for a seemingly short ride. As it stands, the entire ride is said to last for about 11 minutes. Just enough time to take in those gorgeous views and maybe snap a selfie or two.
The spacecraft, New Shepard, stands at a towering 60 feet tall. It is a completely autonomous rocket and capsule combination that is truly a modern innovation of aerospace…
