Amazon founder will take off in the New Shepard spacecraft at 9 a.m. ET

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Jeff Bezos and three other passengers will launch into space tomorrow, July 20 at approximately 9:00 a.m. EST.

The launch, which will depart from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas, coincides with the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Watch the live stream on Blue Origin’s website, which will start at 7:30 a.m. EST, with the flight time estimated to be 11 minutes.

Along with the former Amazon CEO, the space capsule will launch Bezos’ brother, Mark, pilot Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk and 18-year-old old physics student Oliver Daemon.

Funk, who was part of a group of female aviators called Mercury 13 in the 1960s, was the first female flight instructor at a U.S. military base. If the launch is successful, Funk will become the oldest astronaut, beating late U.S. Senator and astronaut John Glenn — who would’ve turned 100 yesterday.

Passenger Daemon marks another age record, becoming the youngest person ever in space if the launch is successful. When Blue Origin’s anonymous auction winner declined the opportunity to participate in the space launch, Bezos selected Daemon — Blue Origin’s first paying customer — as the alternative.

The former Amazon CEO founded Blue Origin in 2020 and while the New Shepard rocket has flown 15 times successfully — tomorrow’s launch will mark the first trip with humans aboard.

Bezos has been funding Blue Origin by selling $1 billion worth of his Amazon stock each year.

Bezos announced the flight earlier this May, where he also announced that his brother would join him.

“I wasn’t even expecting him to say that he was going to be on the first flight,” Mark Bezos said in the announcement video. “And when he asked me to go along, I was just awestruck. What a remarkable opportunity not only to have this adventure but to be able to do it with my best friend.”

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