Amazon founder Jeff Bezos starts into space after competitor Richard Branson and goes on the hunt for records with an extraordinary crew.
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Amazon founder and richest man in the world Jeff Bezos (57) starts at 3 p.m. (CEST) from Van Horn, Texas, into space.
Also there are his brother Mark, Oliver Daemen (18) as the youngest space traveler and Mary Wallace Funk (82) as the oldest space traveler.
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Update from July 20, 10:57 a.m
.: The richest man in the world - Jeff Bezos (57) flies into space today.
The start is on Tuesday at 3 p.m. CEST in the Texas desert.
The date for the space flight was chosen deliberately: on July 20, 1969, the first people set foot on the moon.
Now - 52 years - later, Bezos wants to fulfill his childhood dream and conquer space.
It is the first manned flight of the US space company Blue Origin - the 16th flight of the "New Shepard" rocket.
Bezos' personal motto "Gradatim Ferociter" stands above the mission.
These two Latin words also adorn his cowboy boots and mean “step by step and determined”.
In the space capsule "RSS First Step", which is supposed to fly 100 kilometers into space, there is space for a total of six people.
In addition to two pilots, four selected passengers are on board
(see also initial report)
:
Jeff Bezos (57)
Wally Funk (82)
Oliver Daemen (18)
Mark Bezos (51)
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The richest man in the world flies into space: Jeff Bezos.
His brother, Wally Funk (82) and Oliver Daemen (18) are also there.
© Blue Blue Origin / Blue Origin via ZUMA Press Wire / dpaOrigin
Space race: Amazon founder Bezos on a record hunt into space - 82-year-olds also part of the crew
First report from July 20, 2021
Van Horn / USA - After his “Space Race” opponent Richard Branson (70) had already boarded the space shuttle towards space nine days earlier, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wants to top it all off on Tuesday. Because he has three records in his luggage: With the 18-year-old Dutchman Oliver Daemen, the youngest person to date is to fly into space. And the oldest space traveler is also part of the party: Mary Wallace Funk flies with her 82 years as a guest of honor in fourth place in the space capsule - next to Bezos himself and his brother Mark.
Oliver Daemen was only lucky to become part of the crew: Actually, an anonymous bidder should have flown in his place, who put a total of 28 million dollars on the table for the ticket at an auction.
Since there were scheduling collisions according to the Bezos company Blue Origin, the space became available again.
Daemen's father was awarded the second ticket at the auction and can now send his son on a short journey into weightlessness.
The four-person crew is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. (CEST) from Van Horn in western Texas.
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Bezos space flight: she waited 60 years for this moment
Flight instructor Mary Wallace Funk also brings a moving story on board: the pilot should have been flying into space as early as 1961. At the time, she was part of a 13-person team of women who, as part of the private 'Mercury 13 Women in Space' program, were supposed to show that not only men have the physical and psychological requirements for work in space. Despite successfully passing the tests, according to their own statements even better and faster than the male colleagues, NASA could not be convinced at the time and the program was discontinued.
