Blue Origin opens up bidding for first 'spectacular' space tourism trip in July

May 6, 2021
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, Eric Johnson reports for Reuters.

KENT, Wash., - Blue Origin, billionaire Jeff Bezos' rocket company, said on Wednesday it is targeting July 20 for its first suborbital sightseeing trip on its New Shepard spacecraft, a landmark moment in a competition to usher in a new era of private commercial space travel, Eric Johnson reports for Reuters. Continue reading original article.

The Intelligent Aerospace take:

May 6, 2021 -"The winning bid amount will be donated to Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and help invent the future of life in space," Blue Origin said in a press release.

On this day 60 years ago, Alan Shepard made history by becoming the first American to fly to space. In the decades since, fewer than 600 astronauts have been to space above the Kármán Line to see the borderless Earth and the thin limb of our atmosphere. They all say this experience changes them."

We named our launch vehicle after Alan Shepard to honor his historic flight. New Shepard has flown 15 successful consecutive missions to space and back above the Kármán Line through a meticulous and incremental flight program to test its multiple redundant safety systems. Now, it’s time for astronauts to climb onboard."

Related: Blue Origin's New Shepard successfully flies eight NASA research and technology payloads to space

Related: Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket to launch Telesat’s advanced global LEO satellite constellation

Related: Virgin Galactic successful in sending humans to FAA definition of space for the first time

Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace

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