Jeff Bezos and Crew Go To Space And Back

CNN reports that Jeff Bezos and his crew completed their well-publicized spaceflight. They were flying on the New Shepard, the rocket ship made by his space company, Blue Origin.

The 11-minute flight went up more than 60 miles above Earth. The flight made history: it had both the oldest space traveler (age 82), and the youngest person (age 18).

After decades of waiting, 82-year-old Wally Funk finally accomplished her dream of flying to space. The pilot volunteered as a member of the "Mercury 13" program, otherwise known as the "Women in Space Program," in February 1961, which was a privately-funded effort intended to begin training women to fly in NASA's earliest space programs.

Also making history in the Blue Origin spaceflight was 18-year-old recent high school graduate Oliver Daemen, who became the youngest person to travel to space. Daemen was Blue Origin's first paying customer, and his father, an investor, purchased his ticket.

Daemen replaced a mystery bidder who agreed to pay $28 million for a ticket but had to reschedule for a later mission because of "scheduling conflicts."

The crew will hold a press conference later today.