Jeff Bezos flies into space – but that makes the Amazon founder behind Richard Branson only number two. Elon Musk, the third billionaire with space ambitions, stays on earth but makes fun of the Bezos flight on Twitter.
Once the USA and the Soviet Union competed in space, but now even the wealthiest people in the world have discovered space travel as a prestige project. With Richard Branson, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, three billionaires are active in this field. Branson has already fulfilled his dream of flying into space, leaving his two rivals behind. Nine days later, Amazon founder Bezos will also fly into space. That leaves Elon Musk behind.
However, this does not prevent the Tesla boss from making fun of Bezos on the Internet. Bezos’ space excursion will be a suborbital flight only, so the passenger capsule will not enter Earth orbit. On Twitter, a user sent a popular Star Wars meme to Musk in which he had mounted the heads of the two billionaires. “I’m going into space,” says Bezos. “Orbital, right?” Musk asks back. The Tesla CEO, who repeatedly attracts attention through eccentric posts on social networks, apparently found this funny and replied with “Haha”.
Jeff Bezos flies higher than Richard Branson
Musk celebrated a big coup in 2018 when his space company SpaceX managed to shoot a Tesla car into space. His great vision remains the colonization of Mars by humans. In September, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to put US billionaire Jared Isaacman and three other passengers into orbit for several days. Musk himself has not yet left the earth, in contrast to Branson and now also Bezos. The latter is not only by far the richest man in the world, but will also surpass Branson with his space flight.
The 70-year-old Branson arrived nine days earlier, but the Amazon founder is expected to climb around 15 kilometers higher than Branson’s spacecraft with his “New Shepard” missile system. The goal is the so-called Kármán Line: 100 kilometers above sea level it is the official limit to space for the International Aeronautical Association. Bezos is accompanied by the 18-year-old Dutchman Oliver Daemen and the 82-year-old US pilot Wally Funk – the youngest and oldest person in space. His brother is also on board.
Branson flew only 80 kilometers high, that is where space begins for the US military. Both Branson and Bezos are still a long way from the “real” orbit: Depending on the definition, this limit is 160 to 200 kilometers above sea level.
Swell: / / AFP
I am a 24-year-old writer and journalist who has been working in the news industry for the past two years. I write primarily about market news, so if you’re looking for insights into what’s going on in the stock market or economic indicators, you’ve come to the right place. I also dabble in writing articles on lifestyle trends and pop culture news.
