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Another week, another billionaire, a rocket company, goes into space.

Last week, Richard Branson gains astronaut wings He ascends 50 miles above New Mexico in a space plane from the Virgin Galactic company he founded 14 years ago.

On Tuesday, Jeff Bezos, the richest person in the universe, will be attached to a capsule built by rocket company Blue Origin and launch even higher, 62 miles above West Texas.

When and how can I watch the launch?

Blue Origin aims for the rocket to take off at 9 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, July 20. The company will begin to cover the launch. 07:30 on YouTube channel. The date coincides with the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

What is the New Shepard rocket and what will it do?

The Blue Origin spacecraft New Shepard is named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space. It consists of a booster and a capsule, on top of which the passengers will be.

Unlike Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane, the New Shepard is more of a conventional rocket that takes off vertically. When the booster has exhausted its propellant (liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen), the capsule separates from the booster.

Both tracks continue to move upwards above the 62-mile boundary often considered the beginning of space. During this part of orbit, passengers will experience approximately four minutes of freefall and float around the capsule, seeing views of Earth and the darkness of space through the capsule’s large windows.

The booster lands first and vertically, similar to the contacts of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets. The capsule descends minutes from the booster, lands under a parachute and is cushioned by the firing of the last-second jet of air. The entire flight should take about 10 minutes.

Is the new Shepard safe?

Blue Origin launched the New Shepard 15 times—all with no one on board—and the capsule landed safely each time. (On the first launch, the accelerator crashed; on the next 14 launches, the accelerator landed intact.)

During a flight in 2016, Blue Origin made a flight. in-flight testing of the rocket’s escape system where thrusters take the capsule from a failed booster.

A solid-fuel rocket at the bottom of the crew capsule fired for 1.8 seconds, applying 70,000 pounds of force to rapidly separate the capsule and move it out of the booster’s path. Their parachutes opened and the capsule landed softly.

Not only did the capsule survive, the booster was able to correct itself, continued into space, and then re-ignited its engine, landing a few miles north of the launch pad in West Texas, somewhat charred but solid.

Yet the federal government does not make regulations for the safety of passengers on a spacecraft like the New Shepard. Unlike commercial airliners, the rocket has not been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. Indeed, the FAA is prohibited by law from issuing such requirements until 2023.

The rationale for this is that emerging space companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic need a “learning period” to experiment with designs and procedures, and too much regulation will stifle innovation that will soon lead to better, more efficient designs.

Passengers must sign forms that give “informed consent” to the risks, similar to what you sign when you go skydiving or bungee jumping.

What the FAA regulates is to ensure safety for people who are not on the plane – meaning that if something goes wrong, the risk to “disinterested public” on the ground is minimal.

Who else is on the plane?

Mr. Bezos is bringing his little brother with him. 50-year-old Mark Bezos lived a more private life. He is the co-founder and general partner of HighPost Capital, a private equity firm. Mark Bezos previously worked as head of communications for the Robin Hood Foundation, a charity that helps fight poverty efforts in New York.

Blue Origin auctioned off one of the seats and the proceeds went to Club for the Future, a space-focused charity founded by Mr. Bezos. The winning bidder paid out $28 million – and we still don’t know who that is.

Last week, the company announced that the auction winner has decided to wait until the next flight “due to schedule conflicts.”

Instead, Oliver Daemencrashed into an 18-year-old Dutch student who was second at the auction and bought a ticket on the second New Shepard flight.

If the fourth passenger Mary Wallace Funk – passing through Wally — A pilot who was among a group of women who passed the same stringent criteria NASA used to select astronauts in the 1960s.