Jeff Bezos describes his flight to space as 'best day ever'

New Delhi : Jeff Bezos went to space on his rocket company's first flight with people on board, becoming the second billionaire to do this in a week.

The Amazon founder was accompanied by a hand-picked group: his brother, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands and an 82-year-old aviation pioneer from Texas — the youngest and oldest to ever fly in space.

He described his 10-minute-long flight as the 'best day ever'.

Named after America's first astronaut, Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket soared on the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, a date chosen by Bezos for its historical significance.

During the flight, Blue Origin's capsule reached an altitude of about 66 miles (106 kilometers), more than 10 miles (16 kilometers) higher than Branson's July 11 ride. The 60-foot (18-meter) booster accelerated to Mach 3 or three times the speed of sound to get the capsule high enough, before separating and landing upright.

The major difference between Branson's flight and Jeff Bezos flight was that it was totally automated and required no official staff on board for the up-and-down flight.

During their several minutes of weightlessness, video from inside the capsule showed the four floating, doing somersaults, tossing Skittles candies and throwing balls, with lots of cheering, whooping and exclamations of "Wow!"

"My expectations were high and they were dramatically exceeded," Bezos said later.

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