Billionaire Jeff Bezos To Launch Himself Into Space This Week

Van Horn (AP) – When Blue Origin launches people into space for the first time, founder Jeff Bezos will be on board. No test pilots or flight engineers for Tuesday’s debut flight from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One near Van Horn, Texas, just the founder of Amazon, his brother, an 82 year old aviation pioneer, and a teenage tourist. Launch is scheduled for 8:00 AM, CDT, weather permitting. The capsule is entirely automated, unlike Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic rocket plane that required two pilots to get him to space and back a week ago. The billionaire rivals are gearing up to launch anyone willing to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars for a brief space hop. The 18 year old will become the youngest in space and the 82 year old the oldest.