Joe Raedle

Blue Origin's First Crewed Spaceflight Has Successful Liftoff and Landing

By: Discovery

This morning, on July 20, 2021, Blue Origin's first crewed spaceflight was a success! Congrats to Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and three crewmates, who lifted off into space from Blue Origin’s Launch Site near Van Horn, Texas. Here's the play-by-play of the New Shepard's approximitely 10 minute flight from launch to capsule landing, which looked picture perfect.

July 20, 2021

After years of meticulous planning, Blue Origin's first crewed spaceflight took off from a site in West Texas on Tuesday morning. This crew, included Blue Origin founder and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Jeff's brother Mark Bezos, pioneering female pilot Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk, and college student Oliver Daemon. With this successful spaceflight, Funk (82) is now the oldest person to have flown in space and Daemon (18) the youngest.

Anadolu Agency

Congrats to Blue Origin and Jeff Bezos on this huge feat for commerical space flight. Today marks the first time in history that a commercial company launched a privately funded and built spacecraft from a private launch range with astronauts on board. This milestone helps inspire the next generation and open the doors of future space exploration for scientists, researchers, and everyday people who dream of traveling to space but aren't your traditional astronauts.

Here's how the events played out from launch to capsule landing.


Photos of Blue Origin's Journey to Space

Want more on the Blue Origin launch mission? At 10P ET tonight, Discovery will air a 1 hour special, JEFF BEZOS IN SPACE: BLUE ORIGIN TAKES FLIGHT, highlighting the morning’s event, along with interviews from after the launch, behind-the-scenes material, and background stories of Blue Origins and Jeff Bezos.

Follow Discovery on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter for the latest updates and join the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #SpaceLaunchLive.

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