Blue Origin, LLC, based in Kent, Washington, is a privately funded aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services provider. The firm, which was founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Amazon, is run by CEO Bob Smith and aspires to make access to space more affordable and reliable using reusable launch vehicles.
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos has been interested in space from an early age. A profile published in 2013 described a 1982 Miami Herald interview Bezos gave after he was named valedictorian of his high school class. The 18-year-old Bezos said he wanted "to build space hotels, amusement parks and colonies for 2 million or 3 million people who would be in orbit. 'The whole idea is to preserve the earth' he told the newspaper. The goal was to be able to evacuate humans. The planet would become a park."
The Amazon CEO was attended by a hand-picked party that included his brother, an 18-year-old Dutch teen, and an 82-year-old Texas flying legend – the youngest and oldest people to ever fly in space.
“It's the best day ever!” After a 10-minute flight, the capsule landed on the desert floor in isolated West Texas, according to Bezos.
Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket, named for America's first astronaut, launched on the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, a date chosen by Bezos for its historical significance. Even though Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic pushed forward his own mission from New Mexico in the race for space tourist revenues, he stuck to it and beat him to space by nine days.
Blue Origin climbed to a height of around 66 miles (106 kilometer's), more than 10 miles (16 kilometer's) higher than Branson's ride on July 11. To propel the capsule high enough, the 60-foot (18-meter) booster accelerated to Mach 3, or three times the speed of sound, before separating and landing upright.
Video from inside the capsule showed the four floating, doing backflips, tossing Colorful candy, and throwing balls during their few minutes of weightlessness. Cheering, yelling, and "wow" exclamations were audible. On the way back, the capsule landed beneath parachutes, and Bezos and his friends experienced nearly six times the force of gravity, or 6 Gs.
Blue Origin is developing the New Glenn rocket, a large rocket that will launch goods and people into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida. With its projected lunar lander Blue Moon, the business also wants to put men back on the moon, and it's disputing NASA's only contract award to SpaceX.
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