We know Jeff Bezos as the CEO of Amazon. We know him for innovations like Kindle, and his lavish, exclusive retreats. But do you know Jeff Bezos as a space man?
He owns a rocket company called Blue Origin. Never heard of it? Most people haven’t. Yesterday, they launched a rocket called Blue Shepard from Blue Origin headquarters in Texas. This company is in the business of private space flight, as in sending regular people into space. Though Bezos talked about the launch earlier this month, not many expected it this soon. The flight must have been a huge success. Blue Origin President Rob Meyerson assures operations are ready for commercial use. From the looks of things, the debut date might be closer than anyone expects. Jeff Bezos himself boasted passengers will have a great journey and smooth return on a space flight. He does admit there were hydraulic issues during decent, and revisions are already being made. The spaceship tested can fly 62 miles above land. It can hold three people. It can’t make a full orbit around the planet, but will do more tests like this before putting humans on board.
That’s a smart move itself. Before you send people into space, make sure your ship is perfect. There is little if any room for error. Neither Blue Origin nor Bezos want tragedy on their hands. My advice to them is test, test, and test some more. Hydraulics ?is just one stumbling block. There’s competition. Virgin Galactic is the first to launch private space airline service. From what I‘m reading, Virgin Galactic seems more organized than Blue Origin. Zero Gravity Corporation offers space flights for as little as $5,000 (Virgin Galactic flights cost $200,000). There’s talk of NASA building colonies on the moon and Mars. So after safety concerns are answered, that’s just the beginning. How will Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin fly in the private spaceship race?