Blue Origin launches 6 passengers to the edge of space and back

Jeff Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin launched its fourth crewed New Shepard flight Thursday — a 10-minute thrill ride carrying five entrepreneur/adventurers and the spacecraft's chief designer to the edge of space and back.

Running two days late because of high winds at the company's West Texas launch site, the stubby New Shepard rocket's hydrogen-fueled main engine roared to life at 9:58 a.m. EDT, throttled up to full thrust and boosted the spacecraft away atop a jet of flaming exhaust.

Gary Lai, one of Blue Origin's first employees and the architect of the New Shepard program, was added to the crew in place of comedian Pete Davidson after a launch delay and schedule conflict forced the "Saturday Night Live" star to withdraw.