One of the world's richest men blasted off into space on a 10-minute flight overnight, declaring it the "best day ever!" on his return to earth.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, accompanied by his brother Mark, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands and Wally Funk, an 82-year-old female aviation pioneer from Texas, blasted off in his rocket, New Shephard, around 11.12pm (AEST) from its West Texas launchpad.
Blue Origin's New Shepard, named after the first American in space, reached an altitude of about 106 kilometres, more than 16 kilometres higher than fellow billionaire and rival Richard Branson's July 11 ride.
Mr Bezos created Blue Origin in 2000 and claims to have sold $1 billion in Amazon stock every year to fund the project.
"I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer, because you guys paid for all of this," Mr Bezos said afterwards.
Mr Bezos arrived back on earth to cheers from family and Blue Origin employees.
He aims to create a fleet of reuseable rockets to put more people in space. Two more crewed flights are planned this year.
Money raised from the auction for the first paid seat on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket will go to 19 charitable organizations, each offered a $1 million grant "to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and help invent the future of life in space", the company said.
READ MORE: