Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin sets 'four' Guinness records with its first manned spaceflight

Blue Origin, which conducted its first successful manned spaceflight in July this year, entered the Guinness Book this month with not one, but four world records. The space capsule was boarded by none other than the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos, along with three other crew members. While Bezos is looking for another historic feat with the second launch on October 13, here are the four records made by the company. 

The oldest person to go to space

At the age of 82 years and 169 days on July 20, 2021, Wally Funk etched her name in Guinness Book of Records by becoming the oldest person to cross the Kármán line, the edge of Earth's atmosphere. As per Space.com, the record previously belonged to NASA astronaut John Glenn, who was a part of NASA's STS-95 mission and visited space in October 1998 at 77 years of age.

The youngest person to go to space

Oliver Daemen became the youngest ever to visit space when he was just 18 years 334 days old on the day of launch. Notably, this young man was also the first paying customer for a suborbital flight. As per multiple media sources, Daemen’s flight was paid for by his father Joes Daemen, CEO of Dutch company Somerset Capital Partners. Daemen reportedly replaced a unanimous bidder after he backed off from the flight due to scheduling conflict. 

The first siblings to go to space 

The third record has been set by Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark Bezos as they became the first siblings to visit space together. Earlier, Bezos had expressed his excitement about his first flight with brother Mark.

The first suborbital spacecraft to carry paying customers

Blue Origin’s New Shepard RSS First Step became the first spacecraft, on July 20, that successfully completed a commercial suborbital flight by carrying paying customers.

Meanwhile, the company is on its way to break its own record of carrying the oldest person to space, as actor William Shatner, aged 90, will board the second flight on October 12. Shatner is known for his iconic role as ‘Captain Kirk’ in the blockbuster Hollywood franchise Star Wars and has shared his preparedness and excitement for the upcoming launch.

The actor will be accompanied by three other crew members that include Blue Origin employee Audrey Powers, Chris Boshuizen (co-founder of Earth observation company Planet Labs) and Glen de Vries (Vice Chairman at French software company Dassault Systèmes).

Image: Twitter/@BlueOrigin