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Bezos's Blue Origin makes 5th crewed flight into space

Jeff Bezos's company Blue Origin flew six tourists into space for a 10-minute ride Saturday, successfully carrying out its fifth crewed mission.

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Bezoss Blue Origin makes 5th crewed flight into space

Ticket prices are a closely guarded secret.

The gumdrop-shaped capsule holding the crew detached from the rocket once the latter took them into the heavens.

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Bezoss Blue Origin makes 5th crewed flight into space

The rocket booster part then eased down vertically, letting off a sonic boom at one point, and landed to be reused.

The capsule kept going up until it crossed the so-called Karman line at an altitude of about 100 km (60 miles), which by international convention is considered the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space.

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Bezoss Blue Origin makes 5th crewed flight into space

At that height the crew experienced weightlessness for a few minutes and could observe Earth's curvature through big windows in New Shepard.

The capsule then fell back to Earth, with three giant parachutes and retro engines helping it make a gentle landing that kicked up a big cloud of dust.

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Bezoss Blue Origin makes 5th crewed flight into space

This flight had been scheduled for May 20 but was delayed because of a problem with one of the spacecraft's back-up systems. Blue Origin did not give details of the problem.

Blue Origin is a leading player in the nascent space tourism market.

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Bezoss Blue Origin makes 5th crewed flight into space

It flew Bezos on its maiden crewed flight in July 2021, and has also flown Star Trek icon William Shatner and Laura Shepard Churchley, the daughter of the first American in space.

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Bezoss Blue Origin makes 5th crewed flight into space

Blue Origin's competitor for this kind of thing is Virgin Galactic.

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Bezoss Blue Origin makes 5th crewed flight into space

But since its maiden voyage last July carrying its founder, the business tycoon Richard Branson, the spacecraft has stayed on the ground to undergo modifications.