Bezos' Blue Origin gets OK to send him, 3 others to space

Jeff Bezos' rocket company has gotten federal approval to launch people into space, himself included

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Jeff Bezos’ rocket company has gotten government approval to launch people into space, himself included. The Amazon founder will climb atop his New Shepard rocket next Tuesday in West Texas, joined by his brother, an 82-year-old female aviation pioneer and a $28 million auction winner. It will be the first launch with passengers for Blue Origin, which like Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic plans to start flying paying customers in the months ahead. The Federal Aviation Administration issued its OK on Monday. The license is good through August. On Sunday, Virgin Galactic’s billionaire founder Richard Branson rode his own rocket plane to space, accompanied by five company employees. A specially designed aircraft carried the winged ship aloft over New Mexico. The space plane dropped away, fired its rocket motor and soared to 53.5 miles (86 kilometers), before gliding to a runway touchdown.