The Truth About Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ Space Venture
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But unlike Branson, Bezos won’t be traveling with pilots or flight engineers because his ride is fully automated, allowing him to, as Branson put it: “Just sit back, relax, look out of the window, [and to] just absorb the view outside” (via The Associated Press).
Jeff Bezos has always been fascinated with space
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Jeff Bezos paid for the development of a reusable rocket and capsule
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Bezos’ investment paid for the development of a rocket named after astronaut Alan Shepard, which is meant to fly toward the outer reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere before disconnecting with the capsule and coming back down for an upright landing. The capsule, which will contain Bezos and his guests, will continue on, experience zero-gravity for a few minutes, and then return to earth for a parachute landing.
Before the scheduled July 20 liftoff, AP says Blue Origin would have taken part in 15 successful test flights in total since 2015. Its rockets traveled into space with a payload of experiments, postcards, as well as a guest named Mannequin Skywalker.
Jeff Bezos plans to sell tickets to space ASAP
“If you can afford to start your own space program you can afford to pay more than $0 in taxes.” one social media user grumbled on Twitter. Another said: “I’m sure his overworked, underpaid employees are so happy for him.”
