Jeff Bezos launches to space aboard New Shepard rocket ship

Billionaire Jeff Bezos has made a short journey to space, in the first crewed flight of his rocket ship, New Shepard.

He was accompanied by Mark Bezos, his brother, Wally Funk, an 82-year-old pioneer of the space race, and an 18-year-old student.

They travelled in a capsule with the biggest windows flown in space, offering stunning views of the Earth.

When the capsule touched back down after the 10-minute, 10-second flight, Jeff Bezos exclaimed: “Best day ever!”

New Shepard, built by Bezos’ company Blue Origin, is designed to serve the burgeoning market for space tourism.

But Mr Bezos, and other participants in the “billionaire space race”, have been criticised for offering what some regard as mere joy rides for the super-wealthy.

The critics argue that the money could be spent on pay rises for their employees or fighting climate change.

However, Mr Bezos insists his underlying rationale is an environmental one: “We need to take all heavy industry, all polluting industry and move it into space, and keep Earth as this beautiful gem of a planet that it is,” he told MSNBC.

“It’s going to take decades and decades to achieve, but you have to start, and big things start with small steps… that’s what this sub-orbital tourism mission allows us to do, it allows us to practice over and over.”

Source: BBC NEWS

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