Bezos’ Blue Origin Prepares For Next Human Flight As UN Bashes “Billionaires Joyriding To Space”

It’s only been a few months since billionaires Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk launched private space crews into low Earth orbit. The latest was Musk’s SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission that catapulted the first-ever private crew of astronauts 150 miles higher than the International Space Station for three days.

Musk can’t have all the limelight. Bezos’ Blue Origin announced Monday that New Shepard’s 18th mission, NS-18, will lift off on Oct. 12. The crew will include Dr. Chris Boshuizen, a former NASA engineer and co-founder of Planet Labs, Glen de Vries, Vice-Chair, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Dassault Systèmes and Medidata, according to a company press release. There are also going to be special announcements of two other astronauts in the coming days.

NS-18 follows Blue Origin’s successful first human flight on July 20 when Bezos, his brother, and two others launched into space. 

With billionaires focused on who can go the deepest into space, the Federal Aviation Administration recently grounded Branson’s Virgin Galactic after its space mission on July 11. 

Meanwhile, the secretary-general of the United Nations has bashed the billionaires for their “joyriding to space while millions go hungry on earth.”