Watch Jeff Bezos launch himself into space
Jeff Bezos is almost ready for liftoff.
The Amazon founder will head to space Tuesday morning on his company Blue Origin's first human flight. He'll be boarding the New Shepard rocket alongside his brother, Mark Bezos, as well as 18-year-old Oliver Daemen and 82-year-old Wally Funk. Blue Origin says Daemen and Funk will become "the youngest and oldest astronauts to travel to space." An anonymous person who bid $28 million at an auction was originally set to join Bezos but was replaced by Daemen due to "scheduling conflicts."
Bezos' flight will last about 11 minutes, and the passengers will have around three minutes of weightlessness, according to Space.com. The rocket will launch from Texas and will reach an altitude of more than 62 miles above Earth, CBS News reports. If the flight is successful, NBC News notes that Bezos will "make history for taking part in the first unpiloted suborbital flight with a civilian crew."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This comes just over a week after British billionaire Richard Branson's recent successful flight to space, which he described as the "experience of a lifetime." Ahead of the Tuesday flight, Bezos told CNN he hopes to build a "road to space for the next generations to do amazing things there." The flight is set for 9:00 a.m. ET and can be watched live below via Blue Origin.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Today's political cartoons - December 21, 2024
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - losing it, pedal to the metal, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Three fun, festive activities to make the magic happen this Christmas Day
Inspire your children to help set the table, stage a pantomime and write thank-you letters this Christmas!
By The Week Junior Published
-
The best books of 2024 to give this Christmas
The Week Recommends From Percival Everett to Rachel Clarke these are the critics' favourite books from 2024
By The Week UK Published
-
US won its war on 'murder hornets,' officials say
Speed Read The announcement comes five years after the hornets were first spotted in the US
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dark energy data suggest Einstein was right
Speed Read Albert Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity has been proven correct, according to data collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New DNA tests of Pompeii dead upend popular stories
Speed Read An analysis of skeletal remains reveals that some Mount Vesuvius victims have been wrongly identified
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
NASA's Europa Clipper blasts off, seeking an ocean
Speed Read The ship is headed toward Jupiter on a yearslong journey
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Detailed map of fly's brain holds clues to human mind
Speed Read This remarkable fruit fly brain analysis will aid in future human brain research
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Blind people will listen to next week's total eclipse
Speed Read While they can't see the event, they can hear it with a device that translates the sky's brightness into music
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeeping
Speed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
An amphibian that produces milk?
speed read Caecilians, worm-like amphibians that live underground, produce a milk-like substance for their hatchlings
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published