It’s almost time. The next billionaire is ready to send himself to space in a rocket he paid for with his own money (this time past the Kármán line) and, if all goes well, make it back to Earth safely.
It really is billionaire boys and their toys stuff, but this is dangerous. Blue Origin’s New Shephard has run a bunch of crew-free test flights to ensure full safety, including a series of safety tests to see what could happen in various almost-worst-case scenarios and it looks like a crew would still survive.
But this really is the very first mission with humans on board its ship.
And you can watch it live right here at the Blue Origin YouTube channel starting at:
9.30pm AEST
7.30pm AWST / SGT
12.30pm BST
7.30am EDT
We think that’s about two hours prior to launch.
If the Virgin Galactic launch was any measure, expect loads of preamble and hype and guest hosts and musical acts and then a penis-shaped rocket (there’s no denying it) firing off to space.
Maybe it’s the richest man’s mid-life crisis, but it’s never not cool to see new players break new barriers in the 21st Century private space race.
And seeing the great Wally Funk get her chance to go to space? That’s the real deal.
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Seamus runs Byteside. You may also have spotted his words at the Australian Financial Review, the ABC, Junkee, Gamespot, The Esports Observer, CNET, Gizmodo and a few other spots over the years. He's very happy that he gets to nerd out for a living.
