Bezos’s Blue Origin Launches First Crew to Edge of Space Since 2022 Grounding

Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin resumes its flights to the edge of space, carrying six people seated in a capsule atop the New Shepard rocket, ending a near two-year pause of crewed operations following a 2022 mission failure in Van Horn, Texas, on May 19, 2024 in a still image from video. Blue Origin/Handout via Reuters

Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin launched a six-person crew from West Texas to the edge of space on Sunday, resuming its centerpiece space tourism business for the first time since its suborbital New Shepard rocket was grounded in 2022.

“I am ecstatic,” Ed Dwight, who at age 90 years and eight months became the oldest person in space, said upon landing.