---
VAN HORN, TEXAS — A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket entrusted with the company’s first-ever crewed mission soared into clear skies above Texas early Tuesday, fulfilling lifelong dreams held by the world’s richest person and three others.
Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, Oliver Daemen, and Wally Funk were strapped into New Shepard’s capsule when its single BE-3 engine
roared to life at 8:12 a.m. Central time, boosting the 60-foot rocket from Blue Origin’s West Texas launch site near Van Horn. The company was founded by Bezos in 2000 with aims to popularize space tourism and, someday, help people live and work there.