Blue Origin's first crewed flight minted four new astronauts

The world's richest man Jeff Bezos, his brother, a Dutch teenager who is now the youngest ever astronaut and a barrier-breaking female US aviator who is now the oldest have now been to space.

Here is a brief look at the crew of Blue Origin's historic first human flight on Tuesday.

- The tycoon, Jeff Bezos -

Jeff Bezos, 57, left behind the planet where he made his vast fortune for a few minutes on a spaceship built by the company he founded in 2000, when he was still merely a single-digit billionaire.

Six years before that, he started a small online bookstore called Amazon.com out of his garage. Bezos' net worth is today estimated at more than $200 billion.

- The brother, Mark Bezos -

Jeff Bezos invited along his brother Mark, a financier who directs the Bezos Family Foundation and works as a volunteer firefighter.

The pair are best friends, and Jeff shared the moment he surprised his sibling, six years his junior, by asking him to join the mission in a video that went viral on Instagram.

- Trailblazer Wally Funk -

At 82, barrier-breaking woman aviator Wally Funk has just become the oldest ever astronaut, fulfilling a lifelong dream that was thwarted by the sexism of the early space era.

Funk, who took her first flying lesson at age nine, excelled in the privately funded Mercury 13 project, which was intended to train women for space using the same standards as male astronauts prepared by the US space agency NASA, but the program was eventually nixed.

She nevertheless had an accomplished career in aviation, becoming the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, and serving as chief pilot in several flight schools.

- Dutch teen Oliver Daemen -

Oliver Daemen, 18, has become the youngest ever astronaut. He holds a private pilot's license and is a space enthusiast who will study physics at university.

The Dutch teen flew in place of the still anonymous winner of a $28 million public auction, who asked to pass this time because of "scheduling conflicts," and will go on a later trip.

Daemen's ticket was paid for by his father, the CEO of a private equity firm, CNBC reported.

ia/sst

AMAZON.COM

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After conquering Earth, Bezos completes new mission in space
Washington (AFP) July 20, 2021
Jeff Bezos fulfilled his longtime dream of going into space Tuesday and potentially opening a door to space tourism - possibly the next mission for the man who built one of Earth's biggest business empires. The Amazon founder spent a few minutes in space on reusable rocket built by his firm Blue Origin as part of a four-member crew, in a small step toward his stated goal of building floating space colonies. The journey comes just two weeks after he stepped aside as chief executive of Amazon, wh ... read more