Bezos’ Blue Origin To Launch Maiden Human Flight, Here’s Where To Catch It Live
Image via Blue Origin
Less than 48 hours until the Blue Origin launches its first human flight to space on board the 16th New Shepard spacecraft, and it has received all clear for launch.
The passengers taking the trip on July 20 include former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, and the oldest and youngest astronauts ever: 82-year-old aeronautics pioneer Wally Funk, and 18-year-old student Oliver Daeman. Daeman was just recently announced to be the first paying customer to fly on board New Shepard, marking what could be the beginning of commercial space tourism.
Named after Alan Shepard, the first American to fly to space, a usual New Shepard flight takes around 11 minutes, according to Blue Origin. The rocket is designed to take passengers past the Kármán line, which is the internationally recognized boundary of space. There is room for six astronauts in the capsule, but none of these are pilots: the entire spacecraft, and launch, are fully autonomous.
After the quartet returns from space, they’re scheduled to take part in a press conference. Both the launch (scheduled to begin at 6:30 am CDT with liftoff targeted at 8:00 am CDT) and press conference will be livestreamed on Blue Origin’s website.
Our first human flight on Tuesday will be the 16th flight in #NewShepard’s history. Learn about the meticulous & rigorous launch program that brought us to this first step. Watch the launch live on https://t.co/7Y4TherpLr, starting at 6:30 am CDT / 11:30 UTC. #NSFirstHumanFlight pic.twitter.com/xWQRYLikZd
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 18, 2021
This is just the beginning. Watch the launch live on July 20 at https://t.co/7Y4TherpLr. Broadcast starts at 6:30 am CDT / 11:30 UTC. #NSFirstHumanFlight pic.twitter.com/W0yGMftwoW
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 16, 2021
[via CNET, image via Blue Origin]
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