Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin to fly first passengers on space tourism rocket ‘in a few months’

Credit: Isaiah Downing/Reuters

Jeff Bezos’s space exploration company Blue Origin could start taking passengers on a trip to the edge of space within the next few months.

The company is aiming to launch its first crewed flight by early April, according to CNBC, which said a test flight on Thursday was one of two which would be taking place before the end of February.

These flights are reportedly "stable configuration" flights, which mean that most of the major components of the space tourism rocket will remain the same. It trialled its upgraded capsule in Thursday’s flight, and is expected to test the crew getting in and out of the ship in the next flight.

Signs that Blue Origin is nearing its first human flight comes after a series of delays, including last year when staff pushed back over plans for them to travel from Washington to Texas in the midst of the pandemic. 

It marks a major step forward in Blue Origin’s space tourism plans. Once it starts flying customers, up to six people are expected to be able to fit into one rocket. The journeys, which will be to the edge of space, are expected to last minutes.

It is not currently known how much they will cost for passengers, although Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic flights can cost up to $250,000 (£183,000).  

Here’s the full replay of today’s NS-14 mission. Congratulations Team Blue on another successful flight! #NewShepard: https://t.co/NCbbEdqw8Y

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) January 14, 2021

Mr Bezos, the Amazon billionaire and the world’s richest man, has described his work with Blue Origin as "the most important work I’m doing", and has poured $1bn a year into the venture.

Aside from its project to propel tourists into space, Blue Origin has also been vying for contracts with Nasa to provide its lunar landers. Nasa is expected to pick two private companies in early March to build the prototypes, which will be used on crewed missions from 2024, having awarded contracts to three companies last year to develop their proposals.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX was one of the others chosen.

Mr Bezos has previously spoken of his ambitions to colonise space, saying it was "time to go back to the moon, this time to stay". 

Blue Origin did not respons to requests for comment.