Amazon founder unveils Blue Origin and the future of space tourism [Video]

Within the next two years, tourists will be able to take the ultimate trip – up into space. This is according to Jeff Bezos and his new space tourism company, Blue Origin.

It seems all those books and thousands of other items everyone has been buying from Amazon over the years have really paid off, as the wealth accumulated has enabled Bezos, that company’s founder, to set up a new company to send tourists into space.

Bezos revealed the news on a press tour at Blue Origin’s facilities in Seattle, Washington on Tuesday, saying the space craft will be able to handle groups of up to six tourists at a time, taking them on suborbital trips. The tourists will not only get that incredibly fabulous view of our blue planet from above, but will also get to experience weightlessness while up there.

According to Bezos, the company’s ambitions with space tourism are not the only aim of Blue Origin. They are also working on a broader business plan which will allow the company to sell rocket engines to other companies involved in launching spacecraft and satellites into space. 

Reportedly thousands of people are already excited and firmly interested in paid passenger flights into space, with the first test flights hoped to start in 2017.

According to Bezos, he only pursues things he is passionate about. He said he never expected to have the resources necessary to start a space travel company, but that he “won a lottery ticket called Amazon.com.” 

When asked how much money he has spent so far on Blue Origin, Bezos wouldn’t say, but did add, “Let’s just say it’s a lot.” 

Space tourism is not just the brainchild of Blue Origin, of course, as a Russian company by the name of KosmoKurs, along with Richard Branson and his company Virgin Galactic, are also currently working on suitable ships to take tourists up into space.

However reportedly Virgin Galactic has not yet set a date for when their craft will be ready for space tourists, while KosmoKurs is hoping to send up its first passengers in 2020. 

According to Virgin Galactic, they will start their service when they are confident they can safely carry their space tourism clients up into space.

Watch the Blue Origin spacecraft “New Shepard” successfully take off and - equally importantly - land again on Earth, not once, but twice in the video included below.

Source: Newsweek