Blue Origin will take you on a (simulated) space ride at Oshkosh
You can be an astronaut for a few minutes thanks to Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is displaying its historic New Shepard rocket and offering simulated space rides at the EAA AirVenture convention in Oshkosh. That's the same New Shepard that served as key for the company to beat SpaceX in the reusable rocket race. In November 2015, it flew over the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space before heading back down to become the first rocket to achieve a vertical landing. Blue Origin then used it for four more missions in 2016 to prove that it truly is reusable.
While seeing the rocket in person already sounds like a treat, the private space corp has another offering you might appreciate even more. It's also bringing a replica of its tourism-oriented crew capsule at the event and allowing visitors to climb in and use its reclining seats. Blue Origin's capsule has windows that take up one-third of its surface area, so astronauts can enjoy the views going up. Since it can't exactly fly people to space just yet, it's treating guests to a simulated flight experience using actual footage taken by New Shepard's on-board cameras.
Going to Oshkosh? Come sit inside @BlueOrigin's crew capsule and enjoy a simulated ride to space @EAA #OSH17 https://t.co/E6uejQLDgG pic.twitter.com/EjUuY5bdw7
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) July 10, 2017
The EAA AirVenture convention will take place on July 24th to 30th at the Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Blue Origin's exhibit will be one of the main ones on Boeing Plaza during the event -- we're guessing guests will flock to it in hopes of getting a slot for the flight simulations, so you may want to brace yourself for the possible crowd.
Blue Origin president Rob Meyerson said in a statement:
"We are very excited to come to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2017 and showcase our reusable New Shepard rocket and crew capsule so everyone can experience what it's like to be an astronaut. We hope to inspire the explorers of tomorrow, the ones who will help us achieve Blue Origin's goal of millions of people living and working in space."
