A day after Richard Branson successfully flew to the edge of space and back in his Virgin Galactic Unity 22, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin’s license to launch its billionaire founder and three other passengers on July 20.
The former Amazon chief executive is set to be a part of Blue Origin’s maiden crewed flight on New Shepherd. He will be joined in the voyage by his brother Mark, the yet-unknown auction winner who paid $28 million to be a part of the crew, and the 82-year-old Wally Funk, one of the last surviving members of the Mercury 13, who underwent all the necessary training 50 years ago but the flight was eventually cancelled.
Bezos is scheduled to fly into space on New Shepard’s 16th flight. Liftoff is targeted for 6:30am local time (1530 UAE time), the company said.
A Blue Origin tweet stated: ‘#NewShepard is go for launch on July 20 for #NSFirstHumanFlight. This is the 16th flight and first with astronauts on board. Watch live at http://BlueOrigin.com. Coverage starts at 6:30 am CDT / 11:30 UTC.’
All previous 15 tests of Blue Shepherd were with a human-sized mannequin equipped with sensors.
“To gain license approval to carry humans, Blue Origin was required to verify that its launch vehicle’s hardware and software worked safely and as intended during a test flight,” the FAA said told FOX Business.
As a result of the tests, the FAA concluded that Blue Origin was in compliance with the regulatory requirements. The license is valid until August 2021.
New Shepard is a vertical liftoff rocket and will fly nearly 12 miles (19 kilometers) higher than Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane, which went up to a height of 53 miles, crossing the 50-mile mark which NASA considers the edge of space. Bezos and the rest of the crew will be crossing the internationally-recognised border of space at 62 miles (100 kilometers) up.
