The rocket with a space capsule of the private American company "Blue Origin" made a flight today with six passengers on board, including a French entrepreneur and the first black American astronaut candidate, reported world agencies, quoted by BTA.
French entrepreneur Sylvain Chiron thus realized the dream of his life to be briefly in space and see the Earth from another angle. For the African-American Ed Dwight, who is 90 years old, it was an opportunity to become the oldest person to reach space, notes France Presse.
The passengers were in a small capsule of the rocket "New Shepard" of the company "Blue Origin", which is owned by American billionaire Jeff Bezos.
The flight lasted about 10 minutes. The rocket with the capsule took off from a test site in West Texas and then landed with the help of a parachute, the Associated Press adds.
The first flight of "Blue Origin" it was two years ago. But after an accident in 2022, the flights were suspended. They were renewed last December, but without people in the capsule.
Today's flight was the seventh with space tourists aboard the "Blue Origin" capsule.
Ed Dwight was a US Air Force pilot when US President John F. Kennedy recommended him as an astronaut candidate for NASA's fledgling astronaut corps. Dwight was not selected for the class of 1963. But now, 60 years later, he had the pleasure of spending a few minutes in a state of weightlessness with his companions.
His companions, in addition to the French entrepreneur, were a retired accountant and three American entrepreneurs. The price of their tickets for this trip has not been disclosed.
The 1963 NASA class included members of the "Gemini" and "Apollo", including Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, members of "Apollo 11".
NASA did not graduate an astronaut of color until 1978. But
Guyon Bluford became the first African-American to fly into space only in 1983. Three years later, the USSR also sent the first astronaut of color into space, and that was the Cuban Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez, who is of African descent
After leaving the US Air Force, Dwight joined IBM, then started a construction company, eventually earned a master's degree in sculpture and decided to devote himself to the arts. He now lives in Denver, and his sculptures focus on the history of people of color, and some of them have even been sent into space.