On July 20, 2021, ‘New Shepard’ Rocket System built by Blue Origin (a Company owned by Amazon’s Founder, Jeff Bezos) successfully completed its 1st human spaceflight with 4 people on board. It was launched from a private launch site near Van Horn, Texas.
- The 4 members in the spaceflight were Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk (82 years, oldest to ever fly in space) & Oliver Daemen (18 years, youngest ever to fly in space).
- July 20 marks the 52nd anniversary of Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin’s moon landing (on Apollo 11).
- Recently, US based Spaceflight company ‘Virgin Galactic’ owned by Richard Branson successfully completed its successful space flight.
Key Points
i.Space Tourism is becoming increasingly popular across the world.
ii.Jeff Bezos owned Blue Origin has manufactured the rocket New Shepard for space tourism.
- It is designed to take passengers into suborbital space inside of a crew capsule.
- It is fully reusable and has the capacity to carry 6 passengers.
- New Shepard is named after NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Mercury program astronaut Alan Shepard, who was the first American to fly in space in 1961.
- Apart from its academic and research-oriented goal, New Shephard will also allow space tourists to experience microgravity by taking them 100 km above the Earth.
Indian-born Engineer part of Team that Built New Shepard
Indian born engineer Sanjal Gavande is part of the Blue Origin team that built the New Shepard Rocket. She hails from Kalyan, Maharashtra.
Recent Related News:
On June 2, 2020 The South African National Space Agency(SANSA) has partnered with NASA to host a deep-space ground station to support human spaceflight missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. South Africa became the 4th country (4th site) after the USA, Spain and Australia to host a deep space ground station.
About Blue Origin
CEO – Bob Smith
Headquarters – Kent, Washington, USA
