Jeff Bezos' rocket company has gotten government approval to launch people
into space, himself included.
The Amazon founder will climb atop his New Shepard rocket next Tuesday in
West Texas, joined by his brother, an 82-year-old female aviation pioneer
and a $28 million auction winner. It will be the first launch with
passengers for Blue Origin, which like Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic
plans to start flying paying customers in the months ahead.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued its OK on Monday. The license is
good through August.
On Sunday, Virgin Galactic's billionaire founder Richard Branson rode his
own rocket plane to space, accompanied by five company employees. A
specially designed aircraft carried the winged ship aloft over New Mexico.
The space plane dropped away, fired its rocket motor and soared to 53.5
miles (86 kilometers), before gliding to a runway touchdown.
Blue Origin's flight—featuring an automated capsule launched atop a reusable
booster—should reach a maximum altitude of roughly 66 miles (106 kilometers)
before parachuting into the desert.
Joining Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic in the chase for space tourists is
Elon Musk's SpaceX. But SpaceX plans to send its customers into orbit, not
on brief up-and-down hops. Musk has yet to commit to a launch himself.
Bezos, 57, stepped down last week as Amazon's CEO. He founded Blue Origin in
2000.