World's richest person Jeff Bezos, is set to ride his rocket to outer space on Tuesday, 20 July. The company will launch its first astronaut flight, NS-16, from Launch Site One in West Texas. The liftoff is set for 9 am EDT (6.30 pm IST).
Bezos will be accompanied by his brother Mark, an 82-year-old female aviator Wally Funk, and an 18-year-old physics student Oliver Daemen, to an altitude of 100 km, where they will experience three to four minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth in their space capsule.
"Our first human flight on Tuesday will be the 16th flight in New Shepard's history," Blue Origin said in a tweet.
Oliver Daemen: Youngest Person to Space
Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old is all set to make history as the youngest person to fly to space. "I am super excited to go into space. I've been dreaming about this all my life," he said in a video posted on social media.
Daemen is from Tilburg, North Braband, in the Netherlands. He finished his high school from Odulphuslyceum, a catholic secondary school, and in 2020, he joined a flight training centre Group One Air Aviation in Spain to acquire a private pilot licence.
Currently, he is a soon-to-be physics student at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
Wally Funk: Oldest Person to Space
82-year-old Wally Funk, who is also the oldest person to ever travel to space says she is not nervous at all.
In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Wally said, “None of us is nervous. I just love the outdoors, and all things that come with it. I was never the ‘girl’ girl. I have waited a long time for this.”
Wally had to wait for over 60 years for this trip after she was not chosen to fly to space in 1960 due to her gender.
It is worthy noting that she was part of Mercury 13 – a group of American women astronauts selected by NASA.
Date of Bezos' Trip to Space Isn't a Coincidence
The date of Jeff Bezos' trip is also the anniversary of the first humans landing on the moon 52 years ago.
On 16 July, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin went to space from the Florida coast with the mission of landing on the moon and collecting samples of its surface.
On 20 July, Armstrong and Aldrin reached the moon, planted the American flag and captured the iconic footage of their voyage.
Bezos has always been vocal about how the Apollo moon landing changed his life and inspired him to pursue space travel.
The Flight
After reaching the outer space, the capsule will detach from the booster, allowing those inside to view the curvature of the earth and experience weightlessness.
The booster and capsule will then land separately, with the capsule landing in the west Texas desert with the help of parachutes.
Blue Origin recently received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to carry humans on the New Shepard rocket into space.
"The vehicle is ready to fly. There are no technical issues with the spacecraft," said Chris Yeager, Blue Origin's chief engineer for New Shepard.
"This marks the beginning of commercial operations for New Shepard and Oliver represents a new generation of people who will help us build a road to space," he added.
(With inputs from IANS)
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