Amazon northerners where employees are in training for a few weeks to open on September 16 the fourth Amazon fulfillment center in France, Lauwin-Planque with 90,000 square meter of warehouse logistics center Photo: VCG

The wealthiest man on the planet Jeff Bezos will ride his own rocket to outer space on Tuesday, a key moment for a fledgling industry seeking to make the final frontier accessible to elite tourists.

Blue Origin has planned its first crewed mission, an 11-minute hop from west Texas to beyond the Karman line and back again, to coincide with the 52nd anniversary of the first moon landing.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson made the voyage on July 11, narrowly beating the Amazon magnate in their battle of the billionaires.

But Bezos, like Branson, insists it wasn't a contest.

"There's one person who was the first person in space - his name was Yuri Gagarin - and that happened a long time ago," he told the TODAY show on NBC on Monday, referencing the Soviet cosmonaut's 1961 milestone.

Blue Origin's sights are also set higher: Both in the altitude to which its reusable New Shepard craft will ascend compared to Virgin's space plane, but also in its ambitions.

Bezos, 57, founded Blue Origin in 2000 with the goal of one day building floating space colonies with artificial gravity where millions of people will work and live.

Today, the company is developing a heavy-lift orbital rocket called New Glenn and also a moon lander it is hoping to contract to NASA.

New Shepard has flown 15 uncrewed flights to put it through its paces and test safety mechanisms, like firing the capsule away from the launchpad if the rocket explodes, or landing it with one less parachute.

"We learned how to make a vehicle safe enough that we'd be willing to put our own loved ones on it, and send them to space," Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said at a briefing on Sunday.

Weather conditions currently appear favorable.

The event will be live streamed on blueorigin.com, starting 90 minutes before launch.

Joining Bezos will be barrier-breaking female aviator Wally Funk, who at 82 is set to be the oldest ever astronaut, and 18-year-old Dutchman Oliver Daemen, who will become the youngest.

Blue Origin has remained relatively coy about what comes next. The company says it plans two more flights in 2021, then "many more" in 2022. 

Analysts say much will hinge on early successes and building a solid safety record. 

Smith, the CEO, revealed Sunday that the next launch could take place in September or October, adding "willingness to pay continues to be quite high."

At the same time, the sector is beginning to face criticism over the optics of super wealthy individuals blasting off to space while Earth faces climate-driven disasters and a coronavirus pandemic.

"Could there be a worse time for two uber-rich rocket owners to take a quick jaunt toward the dark?" wrote Shannon Stirone in an Atlantic piece titled "Space Billionaires, Please Read the Room."

AFP