What time is Jeff Bezos' space flight launch? How to watch Blue Origin launch in the UK
The Amazon founder is blasting off into space today – here's how you can watch the full spectacle.
Following in fellow billionaire Richard Branson's footsteps, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will be flying into space later aboard the New Shepard today alongside three other passengers.
The business magnate is taking the oldest person and the youngest person to become astronauts with him on the 11-minute journey.
Set to pave the way for commercial flights into space, Bezos' Blue Origin company will be launching its spacecraft from a private site in Texas – but how can interstellar fans in the UK tune in to watch the historic moment?
Here's everything you need to know Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launch and how to watch it.
What time is Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launch?
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is set to lift-off into space from a launch site in West Texas today at 8am CDT, which is 2pm in the UK.
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Using the reusable launch vehicle New Shepard, the vessel will become the first manned commercial spaceflight with the biggest windows flown into space.
How to watch Jeff Bezos space flight in the UK
Those hoping to catch the former Amazon CEO make his cosmos debut, there are a number of livestreams that'll be capturing the historic moment.
The Blue Origin website will be streaming the launch in full, while news sites like CBS News and NBC News are also broadcasting the flight on their sites and YouTube pages.
If you want to watch the New Shepard's launch on the big screen, it's also likely that the BBC News and Sky News channels will be covering the event.
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How long is Jeff Bezos' space flight?
The Blue Origin flight is expected to last approximately 11 minutes – less time than it takes most of us to travel into work.
At 2pm, Jeff Bezos' rocket will lift off into space, with the capsule separating from its booster at around 250,000ft up. "We're in zero-g for around four minutes, and we get to get out of our seats, unstrap, float around, look at the thin limb of the Earth's atmosphere," Bezos told CBS News.
Once the capsule reaches its maximum altitude, it will begin falling back down to Earth, where it'll parachute down into the desert.
Who is Jeff Bezos taking into space?
The former Amazon CEO will be heading into space alongside his brother Mark Bezos, 82-year-old space race pioneer Wally Funk and 18-year-old student Oliver Daemen.
Wally Funk was one of a group of female scientists in the 1960's – the Mercury 13 – who underwent the same astronaut screenings as her male counterparts but never got to fly into space.
Meanwhile, student Oliver Daemen is the son of Joes Daemen, the founder of Dutch private equity firm Somerset Capital Partners, having won an auction for a seat on the trip.
Daemen's seat on the aircraft was meant to be filled by an anonymous auction winner, who paid $29.7 million (£21.7m) to join Bezos in space, however they couldn't attend the first launch due to scheduling conflicts. Daemon, who was originally meant to be flying on the second trip, took their place instead.
Octogenarian Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen will become the oldest and youngest people to travel into space respectively.
Where is the Blue Origin launch site?
The Blue Origin launch site is located in the West Texas desert, near Van Horn.
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