Blue Origin's Space Launch With Jeff Bezos Gets FAA Approval

(RTTNews) - The Federal Aviation Administration has approved Blue Origin's license to launch its billionaire founder Jeff Bezos and three other passengers to space on the New Shepard launch system next Tuesday.

With this approval, Blue Origin has cleared the last regulatory hurdle required for Bezos to become the second billionaire to fly into the edge of space after Sir Richard Branson.

Blue Origin is gearing up to launch its first crew of humans on July 20th from a remote desert site in Van Horn, Texas.

"New Shepard is go for launch. On July 20, Blue Origin will fly its 16th New Shepard flight to space, and its first with astronauts on board," Blue Origin said in a statement.

Liftoff is currently set for 8:00 am CDT / 13:00 UTC. The launch will be broadcast live on BlueOrigin.com beginning at 6:30 am CDT / 11:30 UTC.

Last Sunday, Virgin Galactic conducted its first fully crewed flight sending Branson into space, helping Branson beat rival Bezos to be the first billionaire in space. Meanwhile, Blue Origin claims that Branson didn't truly go to space as it "only" went 57 miles up and didn't cross the Kármán line considered to be the edge of space.

Both the companies will not be taking passengers into orbit, whereas Elon Musk's SpaceX's mission will be a true orbital flight.

Meanwhile, ticket price for this space tourism differs. Virgin Galactic has priced a ticket to edge of space at $250,000, while Blue Origin tourists need to pay $500,000. The costliest ticket is that of SpaceX, with customers required to pay in millions for a 10-day mission to the International Space Station.