Jeff Bezos to soar into space on Blue Origin New Shepard; All you need to know about launch-

Science    20-Jul-2021
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Texas, July 20: Today is a special day for the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his 3 fellow mates who are all set to soar into space aboard Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard rocket. It is companies first human spaceflight, and if successful, Bezos will usher in the new era of private space travel.
 
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About the mission: -
 
The Blue Origin's New Shepard aircraft will take its four passengers beyond the Karman Line, 100 kilometers above, from where the limit of the space starts and descend through a parachute to a desert in Texas.
 
 
 
After reaching the Karman line, the capsule will detach from the rocket, allowing that inside to view the curvature of the earth and experience weightlessness. The passengers will experience three to four minutes of weightlessness before parachuting down to Earth in their crew capsule. The rocket will return autonomously and land at the launch site.

Crew Members:-
 
The passengers include the oldest person and the youngest to travel into space.
 
Apart from Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos will also join him, along with 82-year-old former pilot Wally Funk and an 18-year-old teen, Oliver Daemen. Oliver Daemen had secured a seat after another billionaire bidder pulled out just a few days ago. He will become the youngest person to do so. Meanwhile, Wally Funk will become the oldest person ever to go to space
 
 
 
The crew members are currently staying in Blue Origin's 'astronaut village. They are undergoing 14 hours of preflight training over two days to prepare themselves for spaceflight. “The training will help you feel comfortable and prepared for spaceflight and your responsibilities as an astronaut," Blue Origin said in a statement.
 
About the New Shepherd:-
 
Blue Origin's New Shepherd is touted as the world's first unpiloted suborbital flight. There will be no trained astronauts navigating the spacecraft as it lifts off from Texas.
 
 
 
The five-story-tall rocket, named after Alan Shepard, who in 1961 became the first American in space. New Shepard is a reusable suborbital rocket system, designed to launch a crew capsule with seats for six roughly 340,000 feet into the sky toward the edge of space.
 
How it is different from Richard Branson flight:-
 
The capsule is entirely automated, unlike Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic rocket plane that required two pilots to get him to space. Moreover, Richard Branson flew to the edge of space on July 11 but he did not go beyond the Karman line, however, Bezos will go beyond the Karman line, 100km (62 miles) above Earth, where many experts accept space begins.
 
Take off timing :- 
 
The aircraft will liftoff at 6.30 PM (IST) and will last for just over 10 minutes. It will take off from Blue Origin's sprawling spaceport, which is located around 40 kilometers from the small town of Van Horn, Texas. The day of the scheduled launch, July 20, holds significance in space history as it also marks the 52nd anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moon landing.
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