SpaceX easily steals the headlines from the specialized press, but it's not the only company running the space race from a private position. Jeff Bezos, top man and mastermind of Amazon, also leads Blue Origin, and recently shared material from its New Shepard capsule, designed for tourist rides. Plenty of space, giant windows, and the desire to take its first passengers (at some point in 2018) appear in those images.
The Race for Space Tourism
If you had the money, would you pay for a trip into space? That question is going to repeat with increasing frequency as the months pass and the main companies in the market advance their developments. Virgin Galactic continues to recover ground with its VSS Unity, SpaceX just used a rocket for the second time, and there's also Blue Origin, which fired and landed its own rocket five times. Blue Origin and SpaceX are undoubtedly competitors, though it's not hard to underline some differences. The next step for both companies is to work on crewed flights, but while SpaceX sets its sights on the International Space Station, Blue Origin is focusing on tourism.
Inside the Capsule
That's how we get to the new images that CEO Jeff Bezos shared about the interior of the capsule installed on the reusable New Shepard platform. Bezos confirmed that each available seat will be "a seat by the window", giving passengers a formidable view of space while experiencing microgravity. Standing 1.1 meters high each, Blue Origin said they will be the largest windows to go to space, and if we add the reclining seats in blue and black, luxury will be guaranteed during the eleven minutes (on average) that the suborbital trip will last.
If no setbacks occur, Blue Origin will hold the first crewed tests before the end of the year, and will seek to start its commercial trips in 2018. Another interesting aspect of New Shepard is that it could function as a mini laboratory for brief experiments if needed.
