It's unlikely we'll see Branson or Bezos flying again anytime soon (though there's a chance Elon Musk could do it), but now a new race begins: Which billionaire's space tourism company can get the first crew of paying customers to the edge of space? What's next for the billionaire space race? 'I wanna thank a few people,' Bezos started, giving a nod to Blue Origin's team, before adding 'I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon investor because you guys paid for all this.' The comments were labelled as 'tone-deaf' by some online while a stream of others pointed to allegations of unsafe and inhumane working conditions in Amazon warehouses and the fact Bezos pays next to nothing in income tax. There are some lingering issues hanging over Bezos' flight, too - issues that we're amplified when the ex-Amazon CEO made comments once safely back on land. 'I am hopeful that the new era of space tourism will mean the rich and powerful can see the Earth from orbit, experiencing a profound shift in perspective as they see the fragility of our blue marble suspended in the void,' says Alan Duffy, an astrophysicist from Swinburne University and lead scientist at the Royal Institution of Australia.

'We need to focus on the here and now, and we need to look to the future, so we're building a road to space so that Oliver's generation can blow us away with amazing things and make life better here on Earth.'Īnd will the experience itself, gazing upon the curvature of the Earth from high above the ground, change the billionaires? 'And we need to do both, and we've always done both.' 'Of course people said, 'Look we have so many problems here on Earth,' and they're right,' Bezos said. Speaking on NBC's Today prior to launch, Bezos made note of the criticism that both he and Branson had used their vast wealth to get off the Earth exactly when vast wealth is needed to combat some of the planet's greatest problems. Wherever the boundary is set, the experience of being up there didn't differ all that much for the two billionaires, and the bickering was largely left behind in the final days before the Blue Origin launch. One of the many benefits of flying with Blue Origin' the company said on July 9. 'Only 4% of the world recognizes a lower limit of 80 kilometers or 50 miles as the beginning of space. However, Blue Origin made a slightly snarky tweet about where space actually begins and seemed to suggest that perhaps Branson hadn't reached 'space' after all. The latter company took its billionaire founder to a height of 53 miles (86 kilometers), earning Branson his own pair of commercial astronaut wings. In the leadup to launch, there had been some frosty back and forth between Bezos' Blue Origin and Branson's Virgin Galactic. When the as-yet-unannounced winner of the auction pulled out due to 'scheduling conflicts,' Daemen got the callup. His father, owner of a Dutch private equity firm, placed a bid to nab a seat on New Shepard, but pulled out as the value crept up. Sitting next to her on the journey, but on the other side of the generational gap, was 18-year-old Oliver Daemen. She thanked Jeff Bezos, turning and kissing him on the cheek. 'I loved it,' Funk said at a post-flight conference. Today, she became the oldest person to visit space. The program was canned in 1962, and Funk's space dreams were put on hold.

Funk volunteered to take part in the privately funded Women in Space Program in the 1960s, undergoing the same physiological assessments as America's first male astronauts. While much has been made of Bezos' journey - and, sure, he bankrolled the endeavor - but it was a truly momentous occasion for 82-year-old Mary 'Wally' Funk, who had been dreaming of going to space for longer than Bezos has been alive. The historic feat came just 11 days after Richard Branson's flight on the Virgin Galactic spaceplane on July 9. 'I am unbelievably good,' Bezos said after touchdown, responding to a check by CapCom. Blue OriginĪt approximately eight minutes and 30 seconds after flight, the capsule's parachutes deployed and brought the capsule safely to land. (L-R) Mark Bezos, Jeff Bezos, Oliver Daemen, Wally Funk. The crew of NS-16, the first crewed flight for Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.

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