What to expect when Jeff Bezos launches into space

"It's a thing I've wanted to do all my life. It's an adventure," Jeff Bezos said in an Instagram video as he announced plans to fly into space next month. The billionaire businessman will take a seat aboard the spacecraft built by his company, Blue Origin, for its first passenger launch July 20.

The New Shepard spacecraft — named in honor of Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American to fly in space — is a fully automated, fully reusable rocket and capsule designed to carry passengers and research payloads on brief sub-orbital flights.  Here's the New Shepard system at a glance, and a look at what passengers can expect.