A historic year forspace exploration. A conquest that becomes less ideological, compared to the protagonists of 60 years ago who divided the USA and the Soviet Union, in the midst of the Cold War. In the space age, the new protagonists are the Scrooges of America, especially those of big-tech: da Jeff Bezos a Elon Musk e Richard Branson. The new space race fits into a well-defined context: that of an international match for the control of orbital spaces. The flights are relatively short, suborbital rides where passengers can gravitate for a few minutes and view the Earth from above.
On Saturday, December 12, 2021, Amazon's patron Blue Origin sent another crew into space. This is the company's third manned spaceflight and the first with a full crew of six. The launch marked the 2022th human spaceflight mission this year, a number set to increase in XNUMX.
There were four paying customers and two guests aboard the New Shepard spacecraft. Among the VIPs, Laura Shepard Churchley (daughter of the first American in space) and former football player Michael Strahan, currently co-anchor of ABC's "Good Morning America." Also joining them were four very wealthy clients: space industry executive Dylan Taylor, engineer-investor Evan Dick, venture capitalist Lane Bess, and his 23-year-old son Cameron (the first parent-child duo to fly together in space).
The Blue Origin spacecraft has lifted off from a launch site outside the West Texas city of Van Horn. The capsule with the six passengers reached an altitude of about 66 miles (106 kilometers), providing a few minutes of weightlessness before parachuting into the desert. Total flight time, from takeoff to landing, was 10 minutes 13 seconds (Alan Shepard's 1961 flight reached 116,5 miles above sea level and lasted 15 minutes 28 seconds). The launch vehicle's rocket also returned to Earth, very close to where the capsule landed moments later.
“Welcome back, guys,” said the Amazon patron as he opened the capsule door after their return together with the members of the recovery team to greet and hug the space travelers.
After the flight, Churchley compared her experience to her father's, telling Bezos in comments broadcast on a live stream that, unlike her father, who remained strapped to his seat throughout his suborbital flight, she instead he was able to truly enjoy his time in space, floating in zero gravity.
The flight was yet another affirmation that Blue Origin is building a robust space tourism business capable of regularly taking paying customers beyond the 60-mile mark, where many believe the edge of space begins. Next year, Blue Origin is planning six flights, approximately every two months, creating a regular cadence of spaceflights.
Also SpaceX of Musk flew four private citizens into orbit for three days in September in what has been called the "Inspiration4" mission. While Russia brought an actress and a film producer to the International Space Station this fall, and last week launched a Japanese billionaire and his assistant.
