A reusable launch vehicle has parts that can be recovered and reflown, while carrying payloads from the surface to outer space . Rocket stages are the most common launch vehicle parts aimed for reuse. Smaller parts such as rocket engines and boosters can also be reused, though reusable spacecraft may be launched on top of an expendable launch vehicle. Reusable launch vehicles do not need to make these parts for each launch, therefore reducing its launch cost significantly. However, these benefits are diminished by the cost of recovery and refurbishment.
139-498: New Shepard is a fully reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin . The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard , who became the first American to travel into space and the fifth person to walk on the Moon . The vehicle is capable of vertical takeoff and landings . Additionally, it is also capable of carrying humans and customer payloads into a sub-orbital trajectory. New Shepard consists of
278-645: A Montessori school in Albuquerque when he was 2. Ted struggled with alcohol and with his finances. Jacklyn left her husband to live with her parents, filing for divorce in June 1965 when Jeff was 17-months-old. After his parents divorced, his mother married Cuban immigrant Miguel "Mike" Bezos in April 1968. Shortly after the wedding, Mike adopted 4-year-old Jeff, whose surname was then legally changed from Jorgensen to Bezos. Jacklyn, her husband, and her son left
417-458: A launch rocket and a crew capsule. The capsule can be configured to house up to six passengers, cargo, or a combination of both. The launch rocket is powered by one BE-3PM engine, which sends the capsule above the Kármán line , where passengers and cargo can experience a few minutes of weightlessness before the capsule returns to Earth. The launch vehicle is designed to be fully reusable, with
556-900: A $ 600-million contract with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on behalf of Amazon Web Services. In October of that year, Amazon was recognized as the largest online shopping retailer in the world. In May 2016, Bezos sold slightly more than one million shares of his holdings in the company for $ 671 million, the largest sum he had ever raised from selling some of his Amazon stock. On August 4, 2016, Bezos sold another million of his shares for $ 756.7 million. A year later, Bezos took on 130,000 new employees when he ramped up hiring at company distribution centers. By January 19, 2018, his Amazon stock holdings had appreciated to slightly over $ 109 billion; months later he began to sell stock to raise cash for other enterprises, in particular, Blue Origin . On January 29, 2018, he
695-475: A 4.2 GPA and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi . Bezos graduated from Princeton in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE), summa cum laude . After Bezos graduated from college in 1986, he was offered jobs at Intel , Bell Labs , and Andersen Consulting , among others. He first worked at Fitel, a fintech telecommunications start-up , where he was tasked with building
834-515: A NASA lunar landing technology demonstration, on two separate flights in October 2020 (NS-13) and August 2021 (NS-17). New Shepard 3 rocket was destroyed during the NS-23 mission once it impacted the ground on 12 September 2022 after a rocket engine anomaly led to the activation of the in-flight abort system. The capsule made a successful landing under parachutes. This was the ninth flight of NS3, and
973-439: A booster or propulsion module . The New Shepard is controlled entirely by on-board computers , without ground control or a human pilot. The launch rocket is powered by one BE-3PM engine with thrust vector control, fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen . Aft fins stabilize the rocket during ascent, steer it back to the landing pad during descent, and guide it effectively at speeds up to Mach 3. Ring and wedge fins near
1112-693: A fair amount of job security". Around 750 employees at The Washington Post went on a brief strike in December 2023 in response to Bezos' plans to lay off staff. In 2024, Bezos blocked the Washington Post ' s editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris in the presidential election . The move was criticized by former editor Marty Baron , who considered it to be an act of "disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage" and said that it would invite intimidation of Bezos by Donald Trump. Editor-at-large Robert Kagan also resigned in
1251-457: A flight test program with experimental vehicles . These subsequently led to the development of the Falcon 9 reusable rocket launcher. Jeff Bezos Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( / ˈ b eɪ z oʊ s / BAY -zohss ; né Jorgensen ; born January 12, 1964) is an American business magnate best known as the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon ,
1390-666: A fourth unit in that building for $ 5.3 million in 2012. In February 2020, Bezos purchased the Warner Estate from David Geffen for $ 165 million, a record price paid for a residence in the Los Angeles area. The previous record high price of $ 150 million was paid by Lachlan Murdoch for the Chartwell Mansion . During the COVID-19 pandemic , it was reported that Bezos's fortune had grown by $ 24 billion, citing
1529-518: A fully reusable successor to the Saturn V rocket, having the capacity of transporting up to 450–910 t (990,000–2,000,000 lb) to orbit. See also Sea Dragon , and Douglas SASSTO . The BAC Mustard was studied starting in 1964. It would have comprised three identical spaceplanes strapped together and arranged in two stages. During ascent the two outer spaceplanes, which formed the first stage, would detach and glide back individually to earth. It
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#17327728544751668-684: A launch mass of 75,000 kilograms (165,000 lb). The BE-3PM engine produces 490 kilonewtons (110,000 lb f ) of thrust at liftoff. The first development vehicle of the New Shepard development program was a sub-scale demonstration vehicle named Goddard that was built in 2006 following earlier engine development efforts by Blue Origin . Goddard was assembled at the Blue Origin facility in Kent, Washington , United States and made its first flight on 13 November 2006. A second test flight
1807-744: A life-extension research firm hoping to slow or stop the process of aging. Bezos is involved in the healthcare sector, which includes investments in Unity Biotechnology, GRAIL , Juno Therapeutics , and Zocdoc . In January 2018, an announcement was made concerning Bezos's role within a new, unnamed healthcare company. This venture, later named Haven , is expected to be a partnership between Amazon, JPMorgan , and Berkshire Hathaway . Bezos also supports philanthropic efforts through direct donations and non-profit projects funded by Bezos Expeditions. Bezos used Bezos Expeditions to fund several philanthropic projects, including an Innovation center at
1946-479: A low profile until 2006 when it purchased a large tract of land in West Texas for a launch and test facility. After the company gained the public's attention during the late 2000s, Bezos additionally indicated his interest in reducing the cost of space travel for humans while also increasing the safety of extraterrestrial travel. In September 2011, one of the company's uncrewed prototype vehicles crashed during
2085-520: A millionaire in 1997 after raising $ 54 million through Amazon's initial public offering (IPO). He was first included on the Forbes World's Billionaires list in 1999 with an estimated net worth of $ 10.1 billion, which placed his on the 19th position in the world and 10th in the USA. His net worth decreased to $ 6.1 billion a year later, a 40.5% drop. His wealth plummeted even more
2224-487: A network for international trade . Bezos was promoted to head of development and director of customer service thereafter. He transitioned into the banking industry when he became a product manager at Bankers Trust from 1988 to 1990. He then joined D. E. Shaw & Co , a newly created hedge fund with a strong emphasis on mathematical modelling from 1990 until 1994. Bezos became D. E. Shaw's fourth senior vice-president by age 30. In spring 1994, Bezos read that web usage
2363-650: A new orbital launch vehicle was under development and would make its first flight in the late-2010s. Later in November, Blue Origin's New Shepard space vehicle successfully rocketed into space and reached its planned test altitude of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers) before executing a vertical landing back at the launch site in West Texas. In 2016, Bezos allowed select journalists to visit, tour, and photograph his facility. He has repeatedly called for increased inter-space energy and industrial manufacturing to decrease
2502-755: A part of its launch system. More contemporarily the Falcon 9 launch system has carried reusable vehicles such as the Dragon 2 and X-37 , transporting two reusable vehicles at the same time. Contemporary reusable orbital vehicles include the X-37, the Dream Chaser , the Dragon 2, the Indian RLV-TD and the upcoming European Space Rider (successor to the IXV ). As with launch vehicles, all pure spacecraft during
2641-450: A registered net worth of $ 112 billion. He unseated Bill Gates ($ 90 billion), who was $ 6 billion ahead of Warren Buffett ($ 84 billion), ranked third. He is considered the first registered centi-billionaire (not adjusted for inflation ). His wealth, in 2017–18 terms, equaled that of 2.7 million Americans. Bezos's net worth increased by $ 33.6 billion from January 2017 to January 2018. This increase outstripped
2780-422: A rocket which is planned to be reusable. As of October 2024 , Starship is the only launch vehicle intended to be fully reusable that has been fully built and tested. The most recent test flight was on October 13, 2024, in which the vehicle completed a suborbital launch and landed both stages for the second time. The Super Heavy booster was caught successfully by the "chopstick system" on Orbital Pad A for
2919-650: A short-hop test flight. Although the crash was viewed as a setback, news outlets noted how far the company went from its founding-to-date in advancing spaceflight . After the crash, Bezos has been superstitiously wearing his "lucky" Texas Cowboy boots to all rocket launches. In May 2013, Bezos met with Richard Branson , chairman of Virgin Galactic , to discuss commercial spaceflight opportunities and strategies. He has been compared to Branson and Elon Musk as all three are billionaires who prioritize spaceflight among their business interests. In 2015, Bezos announced that
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#17327728544753058-568: A short-order line cook during the breakfast shift. Bezos attended the Student Science Training Program at the University of Florida . He was high school valedictorian , a National Merit Scholar , and a Silver Knight Award winner in 1982. In his graduation speech, Bezos told the audience he dreamed of the day when mankind would colonize space . A local newspaper quoted his intention "to get all people off
3197-464: A soft landing 500 m (1,630 ft) downrange. In April 2015, Blue Origin announced that they had completed acceptance testing of the BE-3PM engine that would power the New Shepard launch vehicle. The company also announced that they intended to begin flight testing of the New Shepard later in 2015, with initial flights occurring as frequently as monthly, with "a series of dozens of flights over
3336-433: A solid rocket motor. The crew capsule can also separate in case of a vehicle malfunction or other emergency using solid propellant separation boosters, then perform a parachute landing. The total flight duration of the rocket is over 7 minutes, while the total flight time for the crew capsule is around 10 minutes. "New Shepard offers flights to space over 100 kilometers for payloads inside our cabin or with direct exposure to
3475-531: A start capital of $ 3 billion and an executive team led by Hal Barron . Journalist Nellie Bowles of The New York Times has described the public persona and personality of Bezos as that of "a brilliant but mysterious and coldblooded corporate titan". During the 1990s, Bezos earned a reputation for relentlessly pushing Amazon forward, often at the expense of public charity and social welfare. Journalist Mark O'Connell criticized Bezos's relentless customer focus as "very small" in terms of impact on humanity as
3614-599: A surge in demand from households on lockdown shopping on Amazon. He further expanded his residential holdings in February 2022, purchasing a $ 16.13-million-dollar apartment at a 24-story boutique condominium, located across from Madison Square Park in the Flatiron neighbourhood, where he already owns all the units on the top floors. Bezos is the owner of the Y721 , a luxury superyacht estimated to cost more than $ 500,000,000; it
3753-901: A total value of $ 4 billion. Bezos announced that he intended to sell 50 million shares in Amazon over the next year. In September 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin, a human spaceflight startup . Bezos has long expressed an interest in space travel and the development of human life in the Solar System. His 1982 high school valedictorian senior graduation speech was followed up with a Miami Herald interview in which he expressed an interest to build and develop hotels, amusement parks, and colonies for human beings who were in orbit. The 18-year-old Bezos stated that he wanted to preserve Earth from overuse through resource depletion . Rob Meyerson led Blue Origin from 2003 to 2017 and served as its first president. After its founding, Blue Origin maintained
3892-421: A two-pizza rule—a preference that meetings are small enough for two pizzas to feed everyone in the boardroom. When interviewing candidates for jobs at Amazon, he has stated he considers three inquiries: can he admire the person, can the person raise the common standard , and under what circumstances could the person become exemplary. In 2018, it was reported that he met with Amazon investors for just six hours
4031-437: A variety of related fields from 1986 to early 1994. Bezos founded Amazon in mid-1994 on a road trip from New York City to Seattle . The company began as an online bookstore and has since expanded to a variety of other e-commerce products and services, including video and audio streaming, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence . It is the world's largest online sales company, the largest Internet company by revenue , and
4170-407: A whole, a sentiment technologist Tim O'Reilly agreed with. His business practices projected a public image of prudence and parsimony with his own wealth and that of Amazon. In 1999, Bezos was worth $ 10 billion yet drove a 1996 Honda Accord . Throughout the early 2000s, he was perceived to be geeky or nerdy. Bezos was seen by some as needlessly quantitative and data-driven. This perception
4309-419: A year. Instead of using presentation slides , Bezos requires high-level employees to present information with six-page narratives. Since 1998, Bezos has published an annual letter for Amazon shareholders wherein he frequently refers to five principles: focus on customers, not competitors; take risks for market leadership ; facilitate staff morale; build a company culture ; and empower people. Bezos maintains
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4448-464: Is always Day 1" to describe his growth mindset . Bezos used what he called a "regret-minimization framework" while working at D. E. Shaw and again during the early years of Amazon. He described this life philosophy by stating: "When I'm 80, am I going to regret leaving Wall Street? No. Will I regret missing the beginning of the Internet? Yes." During the 1990s and early 2000s at Amazon, he
4587-423: Is an in-air-capture tow back system, advocated by a company called EMBENTION with its FALCon project. Vehicles that land horizontally on a runway require wings and undercarriage. These typically consume about 9-12% of the landing vehicle mass, which either reduces the payload or increases the size of the vehicle. Concepts such as lifting bodies offer some reduction in wing mass, as does the delta wing shape of
4726-484: Is assumed that the bulk density of the first stage (without propellant) is less than the bulk density of air. Upon returning from flight, such a first stage remains floating in the air (without touching the surface of the Earth). This will ensure that the first stage is retained for reuse. Increasing the size of the first stage increases aerodynamic losses. This results in a slight decrease in payload. This reduction in payload
4865-607: Is compensated for by the reuse of the first stage. Reusable stages weigh more than equivalent expendable stages . This is unavoidable due to the supplementary systems, landing gear and/or surplus propellant needed to land a stage. The actual mass penalty depends on the vehicle and the return mode chosen. After the launcher lands, it may need to be refurbished to prepare it for its next flight. This process may be lengthy and expensive. The launcher may not be able to be recertified as human-rated after refurbishment, although SpaceX has flown reused Falcon 9 boosters for human missions. There
5004-430: Is eventually a limit on how many times a launcher can be refurbished before it has to be retired, but how often a launcher can be reused differs significantly between the various launch system designs. With the development of rocket propulsion in the first half of the twentieth century, space travel became a technical possibility. Early ideas of a single-stage reusable spaceplane proved unrealistic and although even
5143-916: Is the largest yacht in the world. According to Forbes Bezos was the second-wealthiest person in America and the third-wealthiest person in the world in 2023. Bezos is the second-wealthiest person in the world according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index . His net worth is about US$ 197 billion as of February 2024. Bezos is known for creating an adversarial environment at Amazon, as well as insulting and verbally abusing his employees . As journalist Brad Stone revealed in his book The Everything Store , Bezos issued remarks to his employees such as "I'm sorry, did I take my stupid pills today?", "Are you lazy or just incompetent?", and "Why are you ruining my life?" Additionally, Bezos reportedly pitted Amazon teams against each other, and once refused to give Amazon employees city bus passes in order to discourage them from leaving
5282-835: Is thought of as the first stage of the launch vehicle. An example of this configuration is the Orbital Sciences Pegasus . For suborbital flight the SpaceShipTwo uses for liftoff a carrier plane, its mothership the Scaled Composites White Knight Two . Rocket Lab is working on Neutron , and the European Space Agency is working on Themis . Both vehicles are planned to recover the first stage. So far, most launch systems achieve orbital insertion with at least partially expended multistaged rockets , particularly with
5421-533: Is to be caught by arms after performing most of the typical steps of a retrograde landing. Blue Origin 's New Shepard suborbital rocket also lands vertically back at the launch site. Retrograde landing typically requires about 10% of the total first stage propellant, reducing the payload that can be carried due to the rocket equation . There is also the concept of a launch vehicle with an inflatable, reusable first stage. The shape of this structure will be supported by excess internal pressure (using light gases). It
5560-403: Is working on a two-stage-to-orbit system. SpaceX is testing Starship , which has been in development since 2016 and has made an initial test flight in April 2023 and 5 more flights as of November 2024. Blue Origin , with Project Jarvis , began development work by early 2021, but has announced no date for testing and have not discussed the project publicly. Stoke Space is also developing
5699-550: The Falcon 9 and the New Shepard employ retrograde burns for re-entry, and landing. Reusable systems can come in single or multiple ( two or three ) stages to orbit configurations. For some or all stages the following landing system types can be employed. These are landing systems that employ parachutes and bolstered hard landings, like in a splashdown at sea or a touchdown at land. The latter may require an engine burn just before landing as parachutes alone cannot slow
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5838-776: The International Trade Union Confederation named Bezos the "World's Worst Boss", with its general secretary Sharan Burrow saying: "Jeff Bezos represents the inhumanity of employers who are promoting the North American corporate model", while in 2019, Harvard Business Review , which ranked Bezos the best-performing CEO for 4 years in a row since 2014, did not rank him even in the top 100, citing Amazon's "relatively low ESG ( environment , social , and governance ) scores" that reflect "risks created by working conditions and employment policies, data security , and antitrust issues." During
5977-483: The Kármán Line at 100 km (62 mi; 54 nmi; 330,000 ft). Near this peak altitude, the crew capsule separates from the rocket. As the rocket nears the ground, its air brakes deploy and the engines restart as onboard computers autonomously bring the rocket for a vertical landing at the landing pad, where it deploys its four landing legs . The crew capsule descends afterward under three parachutes and
6116-761: The Seattle Museum of Flight . In September 2021, Bezos co-founded Altos Labs with Mail.ru founder Yuri Milner . Altos Labs is a well-funded biotechnology company dedicated to harnessing cellular reprogramming to develop longevity therapeutics . The company has recruited prominent scientists such as Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte (known for work on rejuvenation through reprogramming), Steve Horvath (known for work in epigenetic aging clocks ), and Shinya Yamanaka (the Nobel Prize -winning inventor of cellular reprogramming in mammalian cells). The company left stealth mode and launched on January 19, 2022, with
6255-699: The Space Launch System are considered to be retrofitted with such heat shields to salvage the expensive engines, possibly reducing the costs of launches significantly. Heat shields allow an orbiting spacecraft to land safely without expending very much fuel. They need not take the form of inflatable heat shields, they may simply take the form of heat-resistant tiles that prevent heat conduction . Heat shields are also proposed for use in combination with retrograde thrust to allow for full reusability as seen in Starship . Reusable launch system stages such as
6394-537: The Space Shuttle . Systems like the McDonnell Douglas DC-X (Delta Clipper) and those by SpaceX are examples of a retrograde system. The boosters of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy land using one of their nine engines. The Falcon 9 rocket is the first orbital rocket to vertically land its first stage on the ground. The first stage of Starship is planned to land vertically, while the second
6533-561: The Space Shuttle orbiter that acted as an orbital insertion stage, but it did not reuse the External Tank that fed the RS-25 engines. This is an example of a reusable launch system which reuses specific components of rockets. ULA’s Vulcan Centaur was originally designed to reuse the first stage engines, while the tank is expended. The engines would splashdown on an inflatable aeroshell , then be recovered. On 23 February 2024, one of
6672-593: The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in Albuquerque. Lawrence retired early to his family's ranch near Cotulla, Texas , where his grandson would spend many summers in his youth and which he would later purchase and expand from 25,000 acres (10,117 ha) to 300,000 acres (121,406 ha). Jeff displayed scientific interests and technological proficiency and once rigged an electric alarm to keep his younger half-siblings out of his room. The family moved to Miami, Florida , where Jeff attended Miami Palmetto High School . In high school, he worked at McDonald's as
6811-452: The sixth crewed flight took place on 4 August 2022. In September 2022, an uncrewed mission of the New Shepard had an anomaly due to a failure of the BE-3PM main engine. The launch escape system triggered and the capsule landed safely. The remaining New Shepard launch vehicles were grounded pending an FAA investigation into the incident. After a six-month investigation, Blue Origin pinpointed
6950-743: The third quarter of 2021 he would step down from his role as CEO of Amazon to become the Executive Chairman of the Amazon Board. He was succeeded as CEO by Andy Jassy . On February 2, 2021, Bezos sent an email to all Amazon employees, telling them the transition would give him "the time and energy [he] need[s] to focus on the Day 1 Fund , the Bezos Earth Fund , Blue Origin , The Washington Post , and [his] other passions." In February 2024, Bezos sold 24 million shares in Amazon at
7089-692: The "wealthiest person in modern history" by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index , Fortune , MarketWatch , The Wall Street Journal , and Forbes . In 2019, Bezos's wealth was reduced by the divorce from his wife MacKenzie Bezos . According to Forbes , had the Washington state common law applied to their divorce without a prenuptial agreement, Bezos's wealth could have been equitably divided with his ex-wife; however, she eventually received 25% of Bezos's Amazon shares, then valued at approximately $ 36 billion, making her
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#17327728544757228-550: The 2000s and 2010s lead to a resurgence of their development, such as in SpaceShipOne , New Shepard , Electron , Falcon 9 , and Falcon Heavy . Many launch vehicles are now expected to debut with reusability in the 2020s, such as Starship , New Glenn , Neutron , Soyuz-7 , Ariane Next , Long March , Terran R , and the Dawn Mk-II Aurora. The impact of reusability in launch vehicles has been foundational in
7367-400: The 43rd spot on the ranking from 68th. After a rumor broke out that Amazon was developing a smartphone , Bezos's net worth rose to $ 30.5 billion in 2014. A year later, he entered the top ten when he increased his net worth to a total of $ 50.3 billion. Bezos rose to become the fifth richest person in the world hours before market close ; he gained $ 7 billion in one hour. By
7506-473: The Internet" than anyone else. Bezos has been characterized as a notoriously opportunistic CEO who operates with little concern for obstacles and externalities . During the early 2010s, Bezos solidified his reputation for aggressive business practices, and his public image began to shift. Bezos started to wear tailored clothing ; he weight trained , pursued a regimented diet and began to freely spend his money. His physical transformation has been compared to
7645-650: The President's negative comments; this reduced Bezos's personal wealth by $ 10.7 billion. Weeks later, Bezos recouped his losses when academic reports out of Stanford University indicated that Trump could do little to regulate Amazon in any meaningful way. During July 2018, a number of members of the U.S. Congress called on Bezos to detail the applications of Amazon's face recognition software, Rekognition . Criticism of Amazon's business practices continued in September 2018 when Senator Bernie Sanders introduced
7784-489: The Schmitt Space Communicator SC-1x, a three-pound device developed by Solstar that launched the first commercial wi-fi hotspot service in space and sent the first commercial Twitter message from space. NASA provided a part of the $ 2 million project's funding as a part of its Flight Opportunities program. On 12 September 2022,18 NASA payloads were flying on NS-23 when an in-flight failure of
7923-659: The Seattle Museum of History and Industry and the Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics at Princeton Neuroscience Institute . In 2013, Bezos Expeditions funded the recovery of two Saturn V first-stage Rocketdyne F-1 engines from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. They were positively identified as belonging to the Apollo 11 mission's S-1C stage from July 1969. The engines are currently on display at
8062-559: The Shuttle technology, to be demonstrated under the X-33 and X-34 programs, which were both cancelled in the early 2000s due to rising costs and technical issues. The Ansari X Prize contest was intended to develop private suborbital reusable vehicles. Many private companies competed, with the winner, Scaled Composites , reaching the Kármán line twice in a two-week period with their reusable SpaceShipOne . In 2012, SpaceX started
8201-616: The Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (Stop BEZOS) Act and accused Amazon of receiving corporate welfare . This followed revelations by the non-profit group New Food Economy which found that one third of Amazon workers in Arizona , and one tenth of Amazon workers in Pennsylvania and Ohio , relied on food stamps. While preparing to introduce the bill, Sanders opined: "Instead of attempting to explore Mars or go to
8340-404: The aircraft. Other than that a range of non-rocket liftoff systems have been proposed and explored over time as reusable systems for liftoff, from balloons to space elevators . Existing examples are systems which employ winged horizontal jet-engine powered liftoff. Such aircraft can air launch expendable rockets and can because of that be considered partially reusable systems if the aircraft
8479-457: The area and asked Ted to discontinue contact, to which he agreed. After Mike had received his degree from the University of New Mexico , the family moved to Houston, Texas , so that he could begin working as an engineer for Exxon . Jeff attended River Oaks Elementary School in Houston from fourth to sixth grade. Jeff's maternal grandfather was Lawrence Preston Gise, a regional director of
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#17327728544758618-559: The atmosphere and navigate through it, so they are often equipped with heat shields , grid fins , and other flight control surfaces . By modifying their shape, spaceplanes can leverage aviation mechanics to aid in its recovery, such as gliding or lift . In the atmosphere, parachutes or retrorockets may also be needed to slow it down further. Reusable parts may also need specialized recovery facilities such as runways or autonomous spaceport drone ships . Some concepts rely on ground infrastructures such as mass drivers to accelerate
8757-623: The books, and negotiating the company's first freight contracts—the foundation was laid for this garage-run operation to grow exponentially. Prior to settling in Seattle, Bezos had investigated setting up his company at an Indian reservation near San Francisco in order to avoid paying taxes. Bezos initially named his new company Cadabra but later changed the name to Amazon after the Amazon River in South America, in part because
8896-417: The capsule from the launch rocket at any point during ascent . The Crew Capsule Escape Solid Rocket Motor (CCE-SRM) is sourced from Aerojet Rocketdyne . The interior volume of the capsule is 15 cubic meters (530 cu ft), containing 6 windows, 6 reclined seats, and handholds for ease of movement in zero-g . At the center of the capsule is a cylinder housing the crew escape system. After separation from
9035-411: The capsule returning to Earth via three parachutes and a solid rocket motor. The rocket lands vertically on a landing pad 3.2 km north of the launch pad. The company has successfully launched and landed the New Shepard launch vehicle 26 times with 1 partial failure deemed successful and 1 failure. The launch vehicle has a length of 19.2 meters (63 ft), a diameter of 3.8 meters (12 ft) and
9174-462: The cause of the anomaly as a thermal-structure failure of the BE-3PM engine nozzle caused a thrust misalignment that triggered the capsule's emergency escape system to activate. Blue Origin said in its press release that New Shepard flights would resume as soon as possible. The return to flight mission happened on 19 December 2023. As of 2024, there have been 5 propulsion modules built to date. They are: NS1, NS2, NS3, NS4, NS5. The first flight of
9313-481: The companies targeted by his proposal have placed an increased focus on part-time workers to escape benefit obligations. On October 2, 2018, Bezos announced a company-wide wage increase, which Sanders applauded. The American workers who were being paid the minimum wage had this increased to $ 15 per hour, a decision that was interpreted as support for the Fight for $ 15 movement. In February 2021, Bezos announced that in
9452-413: The company has generated more than $ 100M from the New Shepard space tourism program. In 2024, rocket Scientist Aisha Bowe will be the first black woman to fly with Blue Origin on the New Shepard rocket. New Shepard is a fully reusable , vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) space vehicle composed of two principal parts: a pressurized crew capsule and a launch rocket that Blue Origin often calls
9591-497: The company nearly went bankrupt, he closed distribution centers and laid off 14% of the Amazon workforce. In 2003, Amazon rebounded from financial instability and turned a profit of $ 35 million. In November 2007, Bezos launched the Amazon Kindle . According to a 2008 Time profile, Bezos wished to create a device that allowed a " flow state " in reading similar to the experience of video games. In 2013, Bezos secured
9730-531: The craft down enough to prevent injury to astronauts. This can be seen in the Soyuz capsule. Though such systems have been in use since the beginning of astronautics to recover space vehicles, only later have the vehicles been reused. E.g.: Single or main stages, as well as fly-back boosters can employ a horizontal landing system. These vehicles land on earth much like a plane does, but they usually do not use propellant during landing. Examples are: A variant
9869-430: The early decades of human capacity to achieve spaceflight were designed to be single-use items. This was true both for satellites and space probes intended to be left in space for a long time, as well as any object designed to return to Earth such as human-carrying space capsules or the sample return canisters of space matter collection missions like Stardust (1999–2006) or Hayabusa (2005–2010). Exceptions to
10008-400: The earth and see it turned into a huge national park". After graduating from high school in 1982, Bezos attended Princeton University. He initially majored in physics but later switched to electrical engineering and computer science. On 13 September 2018, during a talk at The Economic Club of Washington, D.C. , Bezos revealed that his classmate at Princeton Yasantha Rajakarunanayake who
10147-510: The economic development (in GDP terms) of more than 96 countries around the world. During March 9, Bezos earned $ 230,000 every 60 seconds. The Motley Fool estimated that if Bezos had not sold any of his shares from its original public offering in 1997, his net worth would sit at $ 181 billion in 2018. According to Quartz , his net worth of $ 150 billion in July 2018 was enough to purchase
10286-516: The email address jeff@amazon.com as an outlet for customers to reach out to him and the company. Although he does not respond to the emails, he forwards some of them with a question mark in the subject line to executives, who then attempt to address the issues. Bezos has cited Jeff Immelt of New Enterprise Associates , Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway , Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase , and Bob Iger of The Walt Disney Company as major influences on his leadership style. Bezos first became
10425-479: The end of the second ground test nearly complete, the company completed all work envisioned under the phase 1 contract for the pusher escape system. They also "completed work on the other aspect of its award, risk reduction work on a composite pressure vessel" for the vehicle. Reusable launch vehicle Reusable launch vehicles may contain additional avionics and propellant , making them heavier than their expendable counterparts. Reused parts may need to enter
10564-454: The entire stock markets of Nigeria , Hungary , Egypt , Luxembourg , and Iran . Following the report by Quartz , Amazon workers in Poland , (Germany), and Spain participated in demonstrations and labor strikes to draw attention to his growing wealth and the lack of compensation, labor rights, and satisfactory working conditions of select Amazon workers. On July 17, 2018, he was designated
10703-466: The extent of the sub-orbital test program [taking] a couple of years to complete". The same month, the FAA announced that the regulatory paperwork for the test program had already been filed and approved, and test flights were expected to begin before mid-May 2015. By February 2016, three New Shepard vehicles had been built. The first was lost in a test in April 2015, the second had flown twice (see below), and
10842-492: The far more promising Skylon design, which remains in development. From the late 1990s to the 2000s, the European Space Agency studied the recovery of the Ariane 5 solid rocket boosters. The last recovery attempt took place in 2009. The commercial ventures, Rocketplane Kistler and Rotary Rocket , attempted to build reusable privately developed rockets before going bankrupt. NASA proposed reusable concepts to replace
10981-431: The first practical rocket vehicles ( V-2 ) could reach the fringes of space, reusable technology was too heavy. In addition, many early rockets were developed to deliver weapons, making reuse impossible by design. The problem of mass efficiency was overcome by using multiple expendable stages in a vertical launch multistage rocket . USAF and NACA had been studying orbital reusable spaceplanes since 1958, e.g. Dyna-Soar , but
11120-476: The first reusable stages did not fly until the advent of the US Space Shuttle in 1981. Perhaps the first reusable launch vehicles were the ones conceptualized and studied by Wernher von Braun from 1948 until 1956. The Von Braun Ferry Rocket underwent two revisions: once in 1952 and again in 1956. They would have landed using parachutes. The General Dynamics Nexus was proposed in the 1960s as
11259-596: The first time on November 24, 2017, and he was formally designated the wealthiest person in the world by Forbes on March 6, 2018, with a net worth of $ 112 billion. In March 2018, Bezos dispatched Amit Agarwal, Amazon's global senior vice president, to India with $ 5.5 billion to localize operations throughout the company's supply chain routes. Later in the month, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Amazon and Bezos, specifically, of sales tax avoidance, misusing postal routes , and anti-competitive business practices. Amazon's share price fell by 9% in response to
11398-528: The first time. The Ship completed its second successful reentry and returned for a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The test marked the second instance that could be considered meeting all requirements to be fully reusable. Partial reusable launch systems, in the form of multiple stage to orbit systems have been so far the only reusable configurations in use. The historic Space Shuttle reused its Solid Rocket Boosters , its RS-25 engines and
11537-511: The flight was not carrying any people on board. New Shepard 4 (NS4), also called "Tail 4", which flies with capsule RSS First Step , was the fourth propulsion module to be built and the first to carry human passengers . Bezos himself was a passenger. The vehicle was manufactured in 2018 and moved to the Blue Origin West Texas launch facility in December 2019. The uncrewed maiden launch of NS4 occurred on 14 January 2021. NS4
11676-483: The flight, as well as a test dummy given the moniker "Mannequin Skywalker." Since the maiden flight, "Blue Origin has been making updates to the vehicle ... intended primarily to improve operability rather than performance or reliability. Those upgrades took longer than expected" leading to a several-month gap in test flights. The second test flight took place on 29 April 2018. The 10th overall New Shepard flight, and
11815-550: The following year, dropping 66.6% to $ 2.0 billion. He lost $ 500 million the following year, which brought his net worth down to $ 1.5 billion. The following year, his net worth increased by 66.66% to $ 2.5 billion. From 2005 to 2007, he quadrupled his net worth to $ 8.7 billion. After the financial crisis and succeeding economic recession , his net worth would decrease to $ 6.8 billion—a 17.7% drop. His wealth rose by 85.2% in 2010, leaving him with $ 12.6 billion. This percentage increase ascended him to
11954-528: The form of dividends . Bezos uses the term "work–life harmony" instead of the more standard " work–life balance " because he believes that balance implies that you can only have one and not the other. He believes that work and home life are interconnected, informing and calibrating each other. Journalist Walt Mossberg dubbed the idea that someone who cannot tolerate criticism or critique should not do anything new or interesting " The Bezos Principle ". Bezos does not schedule early morning meetings and enforces
12093-514: The fourth NS3 flight, had originally been planned for December 2018, but was delayed due to "ground infrastructure issues." Following a diagnostics of the initial issue, Blue Origin rescheduled the launch for early 2019, after discovering "additional systems" that needed repairs as well. The flight launched on 23 January 2019 and successfully flew to space with a maximum altitude of 106.9 km (66.4 mi). It has been used to test SPLICE ("Safe and Precise Landing – Integrated Capabilities Evolution"),
12232-429: The full-scale New Shepard vehicle was NS1, also called "Tail 1" and was conducted on 29 April 2015 during which an altitude of 93.5 km (58.1 mi) was attained. While the test flight itself was deemed a success, and the capsule was successfully recovered via parachute landing, the rocket crash landed and was not recovered due to a failure of hydraulic pressure in the vehicle control system during descent. The capsule
12371-670: The general rule for space vehicles were the US Gemini SC-2 , the Soviet Union spacecraft Vozvraschaemyi Apparat (VA) , the US Space Shuttle orbiter (mid-1970s-2011, with 135 flights between 1981 and 2011) and the Soviet Buran (1980-1988, with just one uncrewed test flight in 1988). Both of these spaceships were also an integral part of the launch system (providing launch acceleration) as well as operating as medium-duration spaceships in space . This began to change in
12510-535: The ground, in order to retrieve and reuse the vehicle. As of 2021 , SpaceX is building and testing the Starship spaceship to be capable of surviving multiple hypersonic reentries through the atmosphere so that they become truly reusable long-duration spaceships; no Starship operational flights have yet occurred. With possible inflatable heat shields , as developed by the US (Low Earth Orbit Flight Test Inflatable Decelerator - LOFTID) and China, single-use rockets like
12649-508: The inclusion of new access panels for more rapid servicing and improved thermal protection. NS3 was the third propulsion module built. It was completed and shipped to the launch site by September 2017, although parts of it had been built as early as March 2016. Flight tests began in 2017 and continued into 2019. The new Crew Capsule 2.0, featuring windows, was integrated to the NS3. NS3 was only ever be used to fly cargo; no passengers were carried (as
12788-461: The largest provider of virtual assistants and cloud infrastructure services through its Amazon Web Services branch. Bezos founded the aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company Blue Origin in 2000. Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle reached space in 2015 and afterwards successfully landed back on Earth; he flew into space on Blue Origin NS-16 in 2021. He purchased
12927-556: The late 2010s, Bezos reversed his reputation for being reluctant to spend money on non-business-related expenses. His relative lack of philanthropy compared to other billionaires has drawn a negative response from the public since 2016. Bezos has been known to publicly contest claims made in critical articles, as exemplified in 2015 when he sent a memo to employees denouncing a New York Times piece. Day 1: start up Day 2: stasis Day 3: irrelevance Day 4: "excruciating, painful decline" Day 5: death Bezos has stated "it
13066-408: The launch rocket, three parachutes deploy for a soft landing. In the event of a parachute failure, the capsule can still land safely with one of three parachutes deployed. Before touchdown, a retro-thrust system at the bottom of the capsule expels nitrogen gas to slow the landing to approximately 3.2 km/h (2 mph). Additionally, a crushable ring, 14 centimeters (5.5 inches) high, compresses upon impact on
13205-432: The launch vehicle beforehand. Since at least in the early 20th century, single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicles have existed in science fiction . In the 1970s, the first reusable launch vehicle, the Space Shuttle , was developed. However, in the 1990s, due to the program's failure to meet expectations, reusable launch vehicle concepts were reduced to prototype testing. The rise of private spaceflight companies in
13344-510: The major American newspaper The Washington Post in 2013 for $ 250 million and manages many other investments through his venture capital firm, Bezos Expeditions . In September 2021, Bezos co-founded Altos Labs with Mail.ru founder Yuri Milner . The first centibillionaire on the Forbes Real Time Billionaires Index and the second ever to have eclipsed the feat since Bill Gates in 1999, Bezos
13483-641: The mid-2010s. In the 2010s, the space transport cargo capsule from one of the suppliers resupplying the International Space Station was designed for reuse, and after 2017, NASA began to allow the reuse of the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft on these NASA-contracted transport routes. This was the beginning of design and operation of a reusable space vehicle . The Boeing Starliner capsules also reduce their fall speed with parachutes and deploy an airbag shortly before touchdown on
13622-497: The moon, how about Jeff Bezos pays his workers a living wage?" He later said: "Bezos could play a profound role. If he said today, nobody who is employed at Amazon will receive less than a living wage, it would send a message to every corporation in America." Sanders's efforts elicited a response from Amazon which pointed to the 130,000 jobs it created in 2017 and called the $ 28,446 figure for its median salary "misleading" as it included part-time workers. However, Sanders countered that
13761-598: The museum. New Shepard 5 (NS5), which flies with capsule RSS Kármán Line , is Blue Origin's second crew-rated propulsion module. Manufactured to meet growing demand for New Shepard flights, it debuted on the NS-27 uncrewed flight, which flew on 23 October 2024 following aborted launch attempts on 7 October 2024 and 13 October 2024. As of 2024, there have been 4 New Shepard capsules built to date. They are: RSS Jules Verne , RSS H. G. Wells , RSS First Step , and RSS Kármán Line . As of June 2022,
13900-498: The name begins with the letter A , which is at the beginning of the alphabet. At the time, website listings were alphabetized, so a name starting with "A" would appear sooner when customers conducted online searches. In addition, he regarded "Amazon," the name of the world's largest river as fitting for what he hoped would become the world's largest online bookstore. He accepted an estimated $ 300,000 from his parents as an investment in Amazon. He warned many early investors that there
14039-502: The negative costs associated with business-related pollution . In December 2017, New Shepard successfully flew and landed dummy passengers , amending and pushing its human space travel start date into late 2018. To execute this program, Blue Origin built six of the vehicles to support all phases of testing and operations: no-passenger test flights, flights with test passengers, and commercial-passenger weekly operations. Since 2016, Bezos has spoken more freely about his hopes to colonize
14178-719: The newspaper as a media and technology company by reconstructing its digital media, mobile platforms, and analytics software. After a surge in online readership in 2016, the paper was profitable for the first time since Bezos made the purchase in 2013. Bezos makes personal investments through his venture capital vehicle, Bezos Expeditions. He was one of the first shareholders in Google, when he invested $ 250,000 in 1998. That $ 250,000 investment resulted in 3.3 million shares of Google stock, worth about $ 3.1 billion in 2017. He also invested in Unity Biotechnology ,
14317-480: The nine Merlin engines a powering a Falcon 9 launched for the 22nd time, making it the most reused liquid fuel engine used in an operational manner, having already surpassed Space Shuttle Main Engine number 2019's record of 19 flights. As of 2024, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are the only orbital rockets to reuse their boosters, although multiple other systems are in development. All aircraft-launched rockets reuse
14456-653: The office. Throughout his early years of ownership of The Washington Post , Bezos was accused of having a potential conflict of interest with the paper. Bezos and the newspaper's editorial board have dismissed accusations that he unfairly controlled the paper's content, and Bezos maintains that the paper is independent. Bezos' treatment of employees at The Washington Post has also drawn scrutiny. In 2018, more than 400 Washington Post employees wrote an open letter to Bezos criticizing his poor wages and benefits for his employees. The letter demanded "Fair wages; fair benefits for retirement, family leave and health care; and
14595-626: The online sale of music and video, and by the end of the year he had expanded the company's products to include a variety of other consumer goods . Bezos used the $ 54 million raised during the company's 1997 equity offering to finance the aggressive acquisition of smaller competitors. In 2000, Bezos borrowed $ 2 billion from banks, as its cash balances dipped to only $ 350 million. In 2002, Bezos led Amazon to launch Amazon Web Services , which compiled data from weather channels and website traffic . In late 2002, rapid spending from Amazon caused it financial distress when revenues stagnated. After
14734-402: The previous year. His wealth's rapid growth from 2016 to 2017 sparked a variety of assessments about how much money Bezos earned on a controlled, reduced time scale. On October 10, 2017, he made an estimated $ 6.24 billion in 5 minutes, slightly less than the then annual gross domestic product of Kyrgyzstan . On March 6, 2018, Bezos was designated the wealthiest person in the world , with
14873-479: The rocket's main engine caused an emergency ejection of the payload capsule. The payload capsule landed safely and was recovered whilst the rocket was lost. Blue Origin received US$ 3.7 million in Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) phase 1 to advance several development objectives of its innovative "pusher" Launch Abort System (LAS) and composite pressure vessel . In February 2011, with
15012-404: The second and third stages. Only the Space Shuttle has achieved a reuse of the orbital insertion stage, by using the engines and fuel tank of its orbiter . The Buran spaceplane and Starship spacecraft are two other reusable spacecraft that were designed to be able to act as orbital insertion stages and have been produced, however the former only made one uncrewed test flight before the project
15151-433: The solar system , and has been selling US$ 1 billion in Amazon stock each year to capitalize Blue Origin in an effort to support this endeavor. In May 2018, Bezos maintained that the primary goal of Blue Origin is to preserve the natural resources of Earth by making the human species multi-planetary . He announced that New Shepard would begin transporting humans into sub-orbital space by November 2018. In July 2018, it
15290-831: The space environment. With minutes of high-quality microgravity or partial-G, access to the Kármán Line, and gentle return of payload, New Shepard is transforming access to space research." As of March 2011, Blue Origin had submitted the New Shepard reusable launch vehicle for use as an uncrewed rocket for NASA's suborbital reusable launch vehicle (sRLV) solicitation under NASA's Flight Opportunities Program. Blue Origin projects 100 km (62 mi) altitude in flights of approximately ten minutes duration, while carrying an 11.3 kg (25 lb) research payload. By March 2016, Blue Origin noted that they are "due to start flying unaccompanied scientific payloads later [in 2016]." On 29 April 2018, during its eighth flight New Shepard carried
15429-641: The space flight industry. So much so that in 2024, the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station initiated a 50 year forward looking plan for the Cape that involved major infrastructure upgrades (including to Port Canaveral ) to support a higher anticipated launch cadence and landing sites for the new generation of vehicles. Reusable launch systems may be either fully or partially reusable. Several companies are currently developing fully reusable launch vehicles as of March 2024. Each of them
15568-563: The suggestion of his friend, Don Graham . To execute the sale, he established limited liability company Nash Holdings to serve as a holding company through which he would own the newspaper. The sale closed on October 1, 2013, and Nash Holdings took control. In March 2014, Bezos made his first significant change at The Washington Post and lifted the online paywall for subscribers of a number of U.S. local newspapers in Texas , Hawaii, and Minnesota . In January 2016, Bezos set out to reinvent
15707-618: The third was completing manufacture at the Blue Origin factory in Kent, Washington, United States. In 2016, the Blue Origin team were awarded the Collier Trophy for demonstrating rocket reusability with the New Shepard human spaceflight vehicle. On 20 July 2021, the company successfully completed its first crewed mission, Blue Origin NS-16 , into space using its New Shepard launch vehicle, carrying passengers Jeff Bezos , his brother Mark Bezos , Wally Funk , and Oliver Daemen . The flight
15846-818: The third-richest woman in the world. Bezos retained his interest in The Washington Post and Blue Origin, as well as voting control of the shares received by his ex-wife. In June 2019, Bezos purchased three adjoining apartments overlooking Madison Square Park in Manhattan , including a penthouse , for a combined total of US$ 80 million, making this one of the most expensive real estate purchases within New York City in 2019. Bezos had also purchased three adjoining apartments at 25 Central Park West in Manhattan for $ 7.65 million in 1999; he bought
15985-531: The time the Forbes list was calculated in March 2016, his net worth was registered at $ 45.2 billion. However, just months later in October 2016, his wealth increased by $ 16.2 billion to $ 66.5 billion, unofficially ranking him the third-richest person in the world, behind Warren Buffett . After sporadic jumps in Amazon's share price, in July 2017 he briefly unseated Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as
16124-453: The top of the rocket provide aerodynamic stability and reduce fuel consumption during descent. Drag brakes are also deployed during descent to increase drag and reduce speed. The gimbaling engine nozzle and aft fins work together to steer the rocket, both using hydraulic actuators. The New Shepard crew capsule is a pressurized crew capsule designed to carry up to six people. It supports a "full-envelope" launch escape system that can separate
16263-455: The transformation of Amazon; he is often referred to as the metonym of the company. Since 2017, he has been portrayed by Kyle Mooney and Steve Carell on Saturday Night Live , usually as an undercutting, domineering figure. His physical appearance increased the public's perception of him as a symbolically dominant figure in business and in popular culture, wherein he has been parodied as an enterprising supervillain . In May 2014,
16402-419: The underside of the capsule and acts as a decelerator to absorb g-forces . New Shepard is launched 48 kilometres (30 mi; 26 nmi) north of Van Horn, Texas, at Launch Site One (LS1), and conducts a powered flight for about 110 seconds, up to an altitude of 40 km (25 mi; 22 nmi). The rocket and capsule then continue coasting upwards due to their momentum, reaching an apogee just above
16541-426: The wealthiest person in the world. Bezos would continue to sporadically surpass Gates throughout the month of October 2017 after Amazon's share price fluctuated. His net worth surpassed $ 100 billion for the first time on November 24, 2017, after Amazon's share price increased by more than 2.5%. When the 2017 list was issued, Bezos's net worth was registered at $ 72.8 billion, adding $ 27.6 billion from
16680-768: The world's largest e-commerce and cloud computing company. He is the second wealthiest person in the world, with a net worth of US$ 230 billion as of November 13, 2024, according to Forbes and Bloomberg Billionaires Index . He was the wealthiest person from 2017 to 2021, according to both the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes . Bezos was born in Albuquerque and raised in Houston and Miami . He graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science . He worked on Wall Street in
16819-513: Was a 70% chance that Amazon would fail or go bankrupt. Although Amazon was originally an online bookstore, Bezos had always planned to expand to other products. Three years after Bezos founded Amazon, he took it public with an initial public offering (IPO). In response to critical reports from Fortune and Barron's , Bezos maintained that the growth of the Internet would overtake competition from larger book retailers such as Borders and Barnes & Noble . In 1998, Bezos diversified into
16958-676: Was announced that Bezos had priced commercial spaceflight tickets from $ 200,000 to $ 300,000 per person. On July 20, 2021, he launched on the NS-16 mission with his half-brother Mark Bezos, Wally Funk , and Oliver Daemen . He launched nine days after Richard Branson launched on board the Virgin Galactic Unity 22 mission. Bezos's suborbital flight lasted over 10 minutes, reaching a peak altitude of 66.5 miles (107.0 km). On August 5, 2013, Bezos announced his purchase of The Washington Post for $ 250 million in cash, at
17097-525: Was approximately 10 minutes and crossed the Kármán line . New Shepard performed six crewed flights between July 2021 and August 2022, taking a mix of sponsored celebrities such as Wally Funk, William Shatner as well as paying customers. New Shepard ticket sales brought in $ 50 million through June 2022. The second and third crewed missions of New Shepard took place in October and December 2021. The Fourth crewed flight happened in March 2022. On 4 June 2022, New Shepard completed its fifth crewed mission launch and
17236-493: Was begun on a space capsule in the early 2000s. One development milestone along the way became public. On 19 October 2012, Blue Origin conducted a successful pad escape of a full-scale suborbital crew capsule at its West Texas launch site. For the test, the capsule fired its pusher escape motor and launched from a launch vehicle simulator. The Crew Capsule traveled to an altitude of 703 m (2,307 ft) under active thrust vector control before descending safely by parachute to
17375-491: Was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque, New Mexico , as the son of Jacklyn (née Gise) and Ted Jorgensen . At the time of Jeff's birth, his mother was a 17-year-old high-school student and his father was 19. Ted was a Danish American unicyclist born in Chicago to a family of Baptists. After completing high school despite challenging conditions, Jacklyn attended night school, bringing her baby with her. Jeff attended
17514-421: Was called RSS Jules Verne . The New Shepard 2 (NS2), also called "Tail 2", flight test article propulsion module made five successful flights in 2015 and 2016, being retired after its fifth flight in October 2016. New Shepard 3 (NS3), also called "Tail 3", along with capsule RSS H. G. Wells , was modified for increased reusability and improved thermal protection; it included a redesigned propulsion module and
17653-461: Was canceled after the last study of the design in 1967 due to a lack of funds for development. NASA started the Space Shuttle design process in 1968, with the vision of creating a fully reusable spaceplane using a crewed fly-back booster . This concept proved expensive and complex, therefore the design was scaled back to reusable solid rocket boosters and an expendable external tank . Space Shuttle Columbia launched and landed 27 times and
17792-689: Was canceled in 1993. In the late 1980s a fully reusable version of the Energia rocket, the Energia II, was proposed. Its boosters and core would have had the capability of landing separately on a runway. In the 1990s the McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper VTOL SSTO proposal progressed to the testing phase. The DC-X prototype demonstrated rapid turnaround time and automatic computer control. In mid-1990s, British research evolved an earlier HOTOL design into
17931-431: Was cancelled, and the latter is not yet operational, having completed four orbital test flights , as of June 2024, which achieved all of its mission objectives at the fourth flight. Launch systems can be combined with reusable spaceplanes or capsules. The Space Shuttle orbiter , SpaceShipTwo , Dawn Mk-II Aurora, and the under-development Indian RLV-TD are examples for a reusable space vehicle (a spaceplane ) as well as
18070-420: Was characterized as trying to quantify all aspects of running the company, often listing employees on spreadsheets and basing executive decisions on data. To push Amazon forward, Bezos developed the mantra "Get Big Fast", establishing the company's need to scale its operations to produce market dominance. He favored diverting Amazon profits back into the company in lieu of allocating it amongst shareholders in
18209-410: Was detailed by Alan Deutschman, who described him as "talking in lists" and "[enumerating] the criteria, in order of importance, for every decision he has made." Select accounts of his persona have drawn controversy and public attention. Notably, journalist Brad Stone wrote a book that described Bezos as a demanding boss as well as hyper-competitive , and opined that Bezos perhaps "bet the biggest on
18348-552: Was featured in Amazon's Super Bowl commercial . On February 1, 2018, Amazon reported its highest ever profit with quarterly earnings of $ 2 billion. Due to the growth of Alibaba in China, Bezos has often expressed interest in expanding Amazon into India . On July 27, 2017, Bezos momentarily became the world's wealthiest person over Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates when his estimated net worth increased to just over $ 90 billion. His wealth surpassed $ 100 billion for
18487-505: Was growing at a rate of 2300% a year and eventually decided to establish an online bookstore . He and his then-wife, MacKenzie Scott , left their jobs at D. E. Shaw and founded Amazon in a rented garage in Bellevue , Washington on July 5, 1994, after writing its business plan on a cross-country drive from New York City to Seattle . With Bezos at the helm and Scott taking an integral role in its operation—writing checks, keeping track of
18626-444: Was lost with all crew on the 28th landing attempt; Challenger launched and landed 9 times and was lost with all crew on the 10th launch attempt; Discovery launched and landed 39 times; Atlantis launched and landed 33 times; Endeavour launched and landed 25 times. In 1986 President Ronald Reagan called for an air-breathing scramjet National Aerospace Plane (NASP)/ X-30 . The project failed due to technical issues and
18765-483: Was named the "richest man in modern history" after his net worth increased to $ 150 billion in July 2018. In August 2020, according to Forbes , he had a net worth exceeding $ 200 billion. On July 5, 2021, Bezos stepped down as the CEO and president of Amazon and took over the role of executive chairman. Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy succeeded Bezos as the CEO and president of Amazon. Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen
18904-662: Was of Sri Lankan origin, some 30 years ago had defeated him to solve a mathematical problem and as a result, Bezos himself admitted that he gave up his dreams of becoming a theoretical physicist. Bezos was a member of the Quadrangle Club , one of Princeton's 11 eating clubs . In addition, he was the president of the Princeton chapter of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS). He had
19043-441: Was originally planned for NS3). Its initial flight test occurred on 12 December 2017. This was the first flight flown under the regulatory regime of a launch license granted by the FAA. Previous test flights had flown under an experimental permit, which did not allow Blue Origin to carry cargo for which it was paid for commercially. This made the flight of NS3 the first revenue flight for payloads, and it carried 12 experiments on
19182-403: Was scheduled for 2 December, but never took place. According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records, two further flights were performed by Goddard . Blue Engine 1, or BE-1, was the first rocket engine developed by Blue Origin and was used in the company's Goddard development vehicle. On the path to developing the New Shepard launch vehicle, a crew capsule was also needed, and design
19321-578: Was successfully launched on 20 July 2021, with four passengers; Jeff Bezos was aboard this maiden crewed flight. On 13 October 2021, NS4 successfully launched and landed, carrying four passengers, including notable passenger William Shatner. On 11 December 2021, Blue Origin NS-19 successfully launched into space. This was the first time New Shepard carried six passengers, the full design passenger complement. In October 2024, National Air and Space Museum announced that Blue Origin had donated NS4 to be displayed in
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