Billionaire space race – Blue Origin lifts off

Billionaire Jeff Bezos has made his first journey to space, in the first crewed flight of his rocket ship, New Shepard.

Bezos was accompanied by his younger brother Mark as well as Wally Funk, an 82-year-old pioneer of the space race, and a student.

WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTS

They travelled in a capsule with the biggest windows flown in space, offering stunning views of the Earth.

New Shepard is built by Bezos’ company Blue Origin and is designed to serve the burgeoning market for space tourism.

Once the rocket reached space, it was time to return to earth.

The capsule touched back down after a 10-minute and 10-second flight. 

Rescue crews followed the capsule as it returned to earth under three parachutes. 

The crew was then brought out of the capsule and back to land after the short flight to space.

Jeff Bezos told NBC News it was his “Best day ever!”

“THERE ARE NO WORDS”

But Mr Bezos, and other participants in the “billionaire space race”, have been criticised for offering what some regard as mere joy rides for the super-wealthy. 

Mr Bezos insists his underlying rationale is an environmental one: “We need to take all heavy industry, all polluting industry and move it into space, and keep Earth as this beautiful gem of a planet that it is,” he told MSNBC.

Still, the flight received praise from his competitor Richard Branson, who tweeted:

Blue Origin’s flight comes a week after Richard Branson blasted into space on board Virgin Galactic.