One of four passengers on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket, who made a brief trip to space in October, was killed in a small passenger plane crash near New York on Thursday, New Jersey police said on Friday.
Read alsoBlue Origin tries its first manned flight
Glen de Vries, a 49-year-old New York entrepreneur, died alongside fellow American Thomas P. Fisher in
their "little plane crash"
Thursday afternoon in Sussex County, WI. State of New Jersey.
A New Jersey Police spokesperson said the investigation was left to the US Federal Civil Aviation Regulator (FAA).
Brief trip to space
Born in 1972, Glen de Vries was the co-founder of Medidata Solutions, a company specializing in clinical trial monitoring software for the pharmaceutical industry.
Along with three other passengers, including William Shatner, 90, a Canadian actor who played Star Trek Captain Kirk, aviation enthusiast Glen de Vries briefly flew into space on October 13 aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket owned by American billionaire Jeff Bezos.
The Blue Origin company said on Twitter
"devastated by the sudden death of Glen de Vries (who) brought so much energy and life to the entire Blue Origin team and his teammates"
.