China News Service, July 21 (Liu Danyi) On the 20th U.S. Central Time, Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, and a group of 4 people, carried the "New Shepard" rocket and completed a short space trip. .

　　The world's richest man took a personal adventure, and the two of his companions broke the records of "the oldest in space" and "the youngest in space".

Such a full-fledged space journey is not only eye-catching, but also contains unlimited business opportunities behind it.

On July 20, local time, billionaire Bezos boarded the Blue Origin company's "New Sheppard" rocket, lifted off from a launch pad in Texas, and embarked on a space journey.

[This is an adventure, this is the "best day"]

　　When it comes to space travel, the picture most people think of may be an astronaut taking a spacecraft around the earth and floating for a few days in a gravity-free environment. This is called orbital space flight.

　　The suborbital space travel of Bezos and his party is not like that.

　　After they reached the outer space 100 kilometers above the surface, they returned immediately, and the journey took about 10 minutes.

　　In other words, you may still be stuck in the morning rush hour, and they have already returned from space.

Data map: On April 29, 2018, near Van Horn, Texas, USA, Blue Origin successfully tested and recovered the upgraded "New Shepard" suborbital vehicle.

(Video screenshot)

　　The "New Shepard" aircraft flies at a speed of approximately 3,700 kilometers per hour, which is three times the speed of sound.

When it comes to the top of the flight trajectory, the space capsule will separate from the rocket and continue to fly upwards, hovering above the top of the flight trajectory, allowing passengers to enjoy a gravity-free experience for about three minutes.

　　This is a bit like an expanded version of the weightless experience we feel when we ride a roller coaster to the top of the track and are about to scream and dive.

　　During the zero-gravity experience time, passengers can admire the earth through a large observation window.

　　Of course, the freshness and excitement brought by space travel is unmatched by a roller coaster, and Bezos also admitted, "This is an adventure."

　　After completing the space trip and successfully returning to Earth, Bezos happily gave a thumbs up, "(This is) the best day," he said excitedly.

Data map: Bezos.

["From the age of 5, I have dreamed of going to space travel"]

　　I believe that many people have imagined being an astronaut and traveling in space in a composition entitled "My Dream" when they were young.

　　The 5-year-old Bezos had the same idea.

　　Now, he has turned his dream into reality.

　　Bezos, who officially stepped down as Amazon CEO in early July, is an out-and-out space fan.

When he was a child, he became interested in space when he saw American astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong land on the moon.

　　After graduating from high school, when his peers were considering which university to go to, the 18-year-old Bezos had the idea of ​​"planning to build space hotels, amusement parks, and colonies for 2 to 3 million people on Earth orbit."

　　On the 52nd anniversary of the first moon landing, the 57-year-old Bezos finally realized his dream of flying to space.

Bezos and his party boarded into space with 4 people.

Image source: Screenshot of "Blue Origin" social account

　　Apart from Bezos and his brother Mark, the four people who flew to space this time set the records of "the oldest in space" and "the youngest in space" respectively.

　　Funk, an 82-year-old American, had received astronaut training in the 1960s, but at that time the U.S. government, the military, and the Space Agency had reservations about women becoming astronauts. Funk and other women who received training did not Can go into space.

　　When Bezos invited her, he said: "No one has waited longer than you."

　　Compared to Funk, who has waited 60 years to realize his dream, Damon, an 18-year-old college student, is undoubtedly much luckier.

　　Earlier, a mysterious traveler threw $28 million to auction the last position, but withdrew from the trip due to schedule conflicts.

　　Damon’s father is the CEO of Somerset Capital Partners, a Dutch private equity firm. He originally obtained the seat of Blue Origin’s second space trip through an auction, but he got the first space trip opportunity due to the withdrawal of the winning bidder. , He gave the opportunity to his son.

　　Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said that Damon represents a new generation that will build a road to space.

　　"It only takes 10 minutes to fly to and into space, but I know it will be the most special 10 minutes of my life." Damon couldn't hide his excitement.

The Big Three set off a commercial space travel competition.

(Drawing: Chinanews.com)

[Look to the money: the rich are also "involved" and "bring goods" to make money]

　　Just nine days before Bezos flew to space, Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, had taken the lead and completed the space journey on his own "Unity" spacecraft.

　　The super-rich are vying to go to space. Do they think that life on earth is too boring, and that space full of futuristic space is interesting?

　　No!

Their space journey is probably not only to see the beauty of the universe, but to pay more attention to the "money scene" behind them.

　　Space travel is becoming an emerging industry that high-tech companies are competing to invest in.

The three giants, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and SpaceX, are vying to launch a "civilian space tour" in 2021, trying to take the lead in the field of commercial space travel.

　　The super-rich also cannot escape the "involution", they yell hard while "carrying the goods" in person.

　　According to analysis, sending the world's richest man and one of the most famous figures in the business world into space is a huge advertisement for space travel as exploration, industrialization and investment.

　　Citibank predicts that the space tourism industry will reach US$3 billion in 2030.

Morgan Stanley's judgment is more optimistic, believing that by 2040, the industry will grow to more than $1 trillion.

Data map: On July 11, 2021, Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, UK, took a space tour on his own spacecraft.

　　"Looking at the earth from space has changed you. It has also changed your relationship with this planet and with humans." Bezos said.

　　However, hundreds of thousands, or even tens of millions of dollars, of "ferry tickets" are still too expensive for ordinary people.

　　Some netizens sighed: "When I tried to save money for a beach holiday, Branson flew into space easily..."

　　For any newly opened market, the prices of goods and services need to share the heavy early R&D costs.

The key to the decline of market prices lies in two points, one is the expansion of the market scale, and the other is sufficient competition.

　　The space travel scene of the rich and powerful people has slowly opened, but for ordinary people, they don't know when science fiction will become a reality.

(Finish)