World's richest man Jeff Bezos is flying to space today
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is all set to fly to space today on his company's rocket along with his brother, aerospace pioneer Wally Funk, and the world's youngest space traveler Oliver Daemen. Called NS16, the Blue Origin mission will blast off at 9:00 am Eastern Time (6:30 pm Indian Standard Time). Here's how you can watch the lift-off live.
New Shepard rocket launch will be streamed live on YouTube
Blue Origin will stream the New Shepard rocket's launch live on YouTube. The stream will begin at 5:00 pm IST and the launch will take place 90 minutes later. The NS16 mission is named as such because it will be the New Shepard rocket's 16th flight. The rocket itself is named after Alan Shepard, the first American astronaut to fly to space.
10-minute mission expected to fly crew to 62-mile altitude
The NS16 mission will take to the skies from Blue Origin's facilities in Van Horn, a town in the western desert of Texas. The mission is expected to last approximately 10 minutes. The crew capsule will be jettisoned from the rocket at an altitude of 62 miles. The crew will spend a few minutes in zero-gravity and enjoy a view of the Earth's curvature.
Crew capsule's descent will be slowed down by parachutes
By the time the crew capsule enters space, the booster rocket would have autonomously landed close to where it was launched from. The crew capsule will make its descent to Earth slowed down by a set of parachutes. The flight is surely one for the history books. The crew includes the oldest astronaut Wall Funk as well as the youngest astronaut, Oliver Daemen.
Blue Origin received FAA's human spaceflight authorization just last week
Blue Origin is confidently flying its founder to space just a week after receiving the FAA's nod for human spaceflight because the NS16 flight is completely autonomous and doesn't require inputs from the crew. Yesterday Bezos told CNN, "We know the vehicle is safe. If the vehicle is not safe for me, it's not safe for anyone."
Blue Origin claims Branson didn't actually touch space
Although Richard Branson cemented his spot as the first billionaire to fly to space, Blue Origin debated the claim since the former didn't fly to the Kármán line while the latter's rocket will. The imaginary line is accepted as the altitude at which space begins.
