Trip to space

By Gustavo Copelmayer

The founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, also created an aerospace company called Blue Origin, this company developed a rocket, the New Shepard, with which VIP passengers will travel to space. The cost of a ticket reached a value of 28 million dollars for 11 minutes of space flight.

The New Shepard, a name that refers to the first astronaut (Alan Shepard, 1961), is a modest spacecraft suitable for suborbital flights that has already flown 15 times. It is a little bigger than the legendary Apollo that reached the Moon and inside it can fit six people.

On the upcoming trip, Tuesday, July 20, this aircraft will propel the capsule about 30 kilometers high and from there, thanks to its own inertia, it will reach about 100 kilometers, where it is certainly considered open space. Passengers will loosen their seat belts, will not wear diving suits, will be able to float to enjoy zero gravity and have the most unique trip of their lives.

Who are the occupants? An 18-year-old Dutch student, Oliver Daemen, the son of a billionaire, will be the fourth person to accompany Bezos on his journey into space. Another particular fact is that the pilot of the ship, is 82 years old, her name is Wally Funk and it will be her first trip with Blue Origin passengers. Ms. Funk is the first American flight instructor in history who tried to access NASA’s astronaut program in the 1960’s and was rejected for being a woman. So Daemen and Funk will be the youngest and oldest astronauts, respectively, to travel into space.

_{Image Credit: The New Shepard rocket. Blue Origin}