Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, reached space on Tuesday on his rocket company’s first flight with several other people on board.
Blue Origin, the space company founded by Bezos about 20 years ago, has been testing prototypes for its rocket and capsule for years. On Tuesday, the launch vehicle New Shepard soared above the Texas desert and reached about 66.5 miles above the Earth’s surface before returning. It lasted about 10 minutes in all.
New Shepard was designed to hurtle at speeds upwards of 2,200 mph to an altitude beyond the so-called Kármán line—or 62 miles—set by an international aeronautics body as defining the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space.
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