The mishap was revealed this year in the book “Test Gods: Virgin Galactic and the Making of a Modern Astronaut” by Nicholas Schmidle, a staff writer at The New Yorker. Neither Blue Origin nor Virgin Galactic flights go high enough or fast enough to enter orbit around Earth. Mr. Bezos’ company emphasized the rivalry with Virgin Galactic for space tourism passengers in a tweet on Friday. However, the United States Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration set the boundary at 50 miles. The company also noted the size of the New Shepard capsule’s windows, and called Virgin Galactic’s Unity “a high-altitude plane” in contrast to New Shepard’s rocket.

Source: International New York Times July 11, 2021 17:52 UTC