Billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will fly to the edge of space, on Tuesday, 20 July, along with three others, aboard his company Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket.
The company will launch its first astronaut flight, NS-16, from Launch Site One in West Texas. The liftoff is set for 9 am EDT (6.30 pm IST).
The 11-minute trip will be taken by Bezos, his brother Mark and, 82-year-old trailblazing female aviator Wally Funk, and an 18-year-old physics student Oliver Daemen, to an altitude of 100 km, where they will experience three to four minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth in their space capsule.
Bezos chose 20 July as the launch date to honour the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
The Flight Plan
The booster is equipped with a gumdrop-shaped Crew Capsule with space for six passengers inside. After reaching the Karman line, the official space boundary, the capsule will detach from the booster, allowing those inside to view the curvature of the earth and experience weightlessness.
"The vehicle is ready to fly. There are no technical issues with the spacecraft," said Chris Yeager, Blue Origin's chief engineer for New Shepard.
How to Watch Live?
Blue Origin is aiming for the rocket to take off at 9 am Eastern time Tuesday. The company will begin coverage of the launch at 6.30 pm IST on its YouTube channel.
(With inputs from IANS)
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