BLUE ORIGIN (Jeff Bezos) 1ST HUMAN FLIGHT TO SPACE

[GrahamW]

The live feed now up

[V5 - LEO]

...one big phallus going into space?

[final_approach]

Awesome flight! Although I dont think it is fair to call them astronauts. Pretty much just passengers with 4 minutes of zero G and a view.

[GL]

Awesome flight! Although I dont think it is fair to call them astronauts. Pretty much just passengers with 4 minutes of zero G and a view.

[cage]

$26M for your snot-nosed lightie to have 4 minutes of weightlessness.
Are people so bored that this is how you can burn cash?
And in a small phallic rocket?

Reminds me of..

[final_approach]

Total flight time was 10 minutes. Cost per second approximately R600 000 per second! For a sub-orbital flight nogal.

Mark Shuttleworth paid 20million$ for 9 days back in 2002. According to Wikipedia that is 29million$ today.

[GrahamW]

Total flight time was 10 minutes. Cost per second approximately R600 000 per second! For a sub-orbital flight nogal.

Mark Shuttleworth paid 20million$ for 9 days back in 2002. According to Wikipedia that is 29million$ today.

You could probably get the same effect of weightlessness in the Vomit Comet but the view would be priceless.

https://www.gozerog.com/

[Christopher]

<...I don't think it is fair to call them astronauts>

Actually, I just heard on the radio that one of the occupants was, indeed, trained as an astronaut! She trained with NASA some years ago and then never flew into space. Another occupant was a young Dutch chappie (student, I think) and the other was Jeff Bezos' own brother! I guess Mr. Bezos paid all their airfares? I wonder if tickets were issued? (And vomit bags?)

Come on: which person reading this can honestly say they are not jealous in the slightest? Me? I'm green with envy!

[cage]

<...I don't think it is fair to call them astronauts>

Actually, I just heard on the radio that one of the occupants was, indeed, trained as an astronaut! She trained with NASA some years ago and then never flew into space. Another occupant was a young Dutch chappie (student, I think) and the other was Jeff Bezos' own brother! I guess Mr. Bezos paid all their airfares? I wonder if tickets were issued? (And vomit bags?)

Come on: which person reading this can honestly say they are not jealous in the slightest? Me? I'm green with envy!

The Dutch 18-year old’s billionaire dad paid an undisclosed amount at an auction. The previous bid, which backed out, was $28M.
For a 10 minute ride, that borders on vulgar.

[GL]

Space tourism tax?


Space tourism tax: Congressman announces new plan after Blue Origin launch
Jessica Smith

Shortly after Jeff Bezos — the world's richest man — completed his first spaceflight, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D., Oreg.) announced he's working on a plan for a new tax targeting space tourism.

The Securing Protections Against Carbon Emissions (SPACE) Tax Act would create new excise taxes on commercial space flights with human passengers for non-research purposes.

“Space exploration isn’t a tax-free holiday for the wealthy. Just as normal Americans pay taxes when they buy airline tickets, billionaires who fly into space to produce nothing of scientific value should do the same, and then some,” said Blumenauer in a statement. “I’m not opposed to this type of space innovation. However, things that are done purely for tourism or entertainment, and that don't have a scientific purpose, should in turn support the public good.”

Blumenauer noted he's worried about the environmental impact of launching humans into space for tourism or entertainment purposes.

"While proponents of suborbital space flights point to transatlantic flights as having similar carbon footprints, these flights carry significantly more passengers and travel much farther," said a press release from Blumenauer's office. "The result is space launches accounting for an estimated 60-times greater emissions than transatlantic flights on a per-passenger basis, enough to drive a car around the earth and more than twice the carbon budget recommended in the Paris Climate Agreement."

While Blumenauer has not released details of the proposal yet, he said he's considering a per-passenger tax on the price of a commercial flight into space — similar to commercial flights. He would also like it to include a two-tiered excise tax for each launch. The first tier would apply to suborbital flights between 50 and 80 miles above the Earth's surface. The second tier — flights exceeding 80 miles above the Earth's surface — would face a "significantly higher excise tax."

[Falafel]

<...I don't think it is fair to call them astronauts>

Actually, I just heard on the radio that one of the occupants was, indeed, trained as an astronaut! She trained with NASA some years ago and then never flew into space. Another occupant was a young Dutch chappie (student, I think) and the other was Jeff Bezos' own brother! I guess Mr. Bezos paid all their airfares? I wonder if tickets were issued? (And vomit bags?)

Come on: which person reading this can honestly say they are not jealous in the slightest? Me? I'm green with envy!

The Dutch 18-year old’s billionaire dad paid an undisclosed amount at an auction. The previous bid, which backed out, was $28M.
For a 10 minute ride, that borders on vulgar.

It is vulgar and considering the underlying tones in the world today about the gap between rich and poor, it is understandable why there is a growing resentment... no one disputes a free market but there is something fundamentally wrong when the very users of Amazon for instance might not be able to afford to send their children to school in some instances.... its a systemic problem which is going to get worse and this does highlight it, no matter which side of the fence one sits... problem is where do you draw the line between enjoying ones hard earned cash and being sensitive to the plight of millions who also work hard but dont have any

[rouge]

And then there are the ridiculous fantasies of this billionaire class - Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars and Bezos wants to build space colonies. Really? Did they really think this through and do they really believe their own fantasies? The top of Everest will be a better place to live but at least you can come down from the mountain whenever you want to. . I guess each to his own fantasy (or cult for all those who want to follow them there).

As for space tourism ... 90% of all US rocket launches last year were successful. So 10% were not. That is a huge risk. When Joe from Accounting gets incinerated on the pad (or if he is a bit more lucky, a few km's up), prospective tourists may just re-think if it is really worth the risk (but perhaps there is market for the age group of 80 and above who has nothing to lose, some cash to burn and/or wants to avoid the children arguing over the inheritance).

Re-usable rockets have already captured a significant reduction in the cost of space launches but unless a new propulsion system is developed, overcoming gravity will always remain prohibitively expensive (as any pilot knows and that is just to get to 7000ft or thereabouts). So there are really no scale economies here either.

It reminds me a bit of day trading. Time, money and effort spend adding zero value to the rest of mankind.

[p38]

<...I don't think it is fair to call them astronauts>

Actually, I just heard on the radio that one of the occupants was, indeed, trained as an astronaut! She trained with NASA some years ago and then never flew into space. Another occupant was a young Dutch chappie (student, I think) and the other was Jeff Bezos' own brother! I guess Mr. Bezos paid all their airfares? I wonder if tickets were issued? (And vomit bags?)

Come on: which person reading this can honestly say they are not jealous in the slightest? Me? I'm green with envy!

The Dutch 18-year old’s billionaire dad paid an undisclosed amount at an auction. The previous bid, which backed out, was $28M.
For a 10 minute ride, that borders on vulgar.

The person living in a squatter camp that gets maybe R500 per month can look at someone who spends R1.5million on an RV aircraft or R3mill on a robbie and can quite rightly also think it is vulgar.

So it is all relative I guess.

[cage]

The person living in a squatter camp that gets maybe R500 per month can look at someone who spends R1.5million on an RV aircraft or R3mill on a robbie and can quite rightly also think it is vulgar.

So it is all relative I guess.

True, at least we're not publicising it globally and thanking all the squatters for helping pay for it.
I suppose it is difficult to be discrete with a rocket, but they haven't exactly been subtle with all the public my-space-dick-is-bigger-than-yours banter.

[southside]

It’s his money, he can do whatever he likes with it. I’m pretty sure he has his fare share of charity initiatives to give back. You can’t please everyone.

Any connection with the timing of this? As he resigns he takes a trip too space? Or is it coincidence?

I for one have no desire to go to space, even if I could afford it. As mentioned above, I think it is a bit risky and it will be a long time before it is like getting on a commercial airliner risk wise.