New Shepard rocket ready to boost Bezos and three crewmates into space

While Jeff Bezos and his three crewmates worked through a two-day "astronaut" training course, engineers on Sunday tentatively cleared their New Shepard rocket and capsule for blastoff Tuesday on a 10-minute up-and-down flight to the edge of space, matching rival Richard Branson's feat nine days earlier.

Blue Origin, the space company Bezos founded two decades ago, plans to launch the company's New Shepard rocket and crew capsule from its west Texas flight facility at 9 a.m. EDT Tuesday. Liftoff will mark the 16th flight of a New Shepard spacecraft, but the first with passengers onboard. Joining Amazon founder Bezos will be his brother, Mark, 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old Dutchman who is Blue Origin's first paying customer.