Gmc swenson 11 and a half minutes from now. The company saying this is going to usher in harold in a new era of Space Tourism Mr. Bass also accompanied by his brother and a crew that consists of the youngest and the oldest people ever to have gone into space. It follows of course the u. K. Book an average bransons maiden flight performed a similar just over one week ago. Lets stay with these life pictures coming to us from Mission Control and bringing our correspondent, Rob Reynolds. So rob, they have paused the launch a couple of times in the past half hour or so. Is anyone suggesting why . No, we dont have any information from the feed thats being provided by blue origin to tell us whether there is any problem or whether theres some other reason for the suspension of the countdown. But it should be just a few minutes from now that these 4 people, including the worlds richest man, will be launched by the new Shepherd Rocket 3 times the speed of sound above the surface of the earth through 100 kilometers into outer Space And Sub orbital flight that will last for approximately 10 minutes. And then if everything goes according to plan, will parachute safely to earth in the texas desert, scrub land near where im standing right now. This has been a very tightly controlled event. A by basis is a blue origin company. Currently a different form of transportation is passing by here and van worn out. So the access to the site was very tightly controlled. No media allowed on site. No spectators and actually texas highway police are blocking off access to the immediate area in a very remote section. Several dozen kilometers where im standing. And this is a mission of unique individual selling points i guess as well. Rob, theres no Pilot Or Astronaut on board. The camp still driving the spacecraft, talking to Mission Control. Thats all done in a kind of a fly by Wire Kind of away. Weve got the oldest and the youngest person ever to technically go up into space. And its also got the biggest windows on any cra on any craft, rather than gone this far away from Planet Earth. Yeah, very interesting. That there is no pilot. There is no way of guiding the spacecraft from within the spacecraft itself. It has been tested more than a dozen times without any human passengers. The Engineering Staff of blue origin said that they are 100 percent certain that it is safe, they have multiple fallback, failsafe system. There is a system that would allow the capsule to blast away from a, from the rocket itself if the rocket were to malfunction. And that has been tested a couple of times, but yeah, youre right. This is part of the idea of Space Tourism is that anybody could get in the capsule, anybody with who could pay for it. That is of course without needing to be a physicist or to have, you know, trained as an 88. 00 or anything like that. While he funk the 82 year old former gemini trainee, a Gemini Program Trainee from the 1960 is of Course And Aviator and, and does have all of those qualifications and she does fly. But this is again a potentially very lucrative business for bay. Those for the other billionaires who have their space companies, elan mosque, and of course Richard Branson who flew it near to outer space just a over a week ago. And they believe that this could be something that, you know, as it ramps up over time with more vehicles being made with safety. Being proven that this will be something that many people who have the means will want to get involved in an experience, at least a few minutes of a waitlist. This a few minutes of a fantastic view of our planet from, from above. Theres also a lot of talk of course about the idea of colonizing space of some of the billionaires, including moscow, talked about how maybe earth might become uninhabitable. Ready one day and the human race will have to find another home. All that obviously quite a bit far in the future if ever to take place. But today well see maybe the 1st Step in the direction of a actual Space Tourism industry. Robin out at T Minus 6 minutes and 3 seconds. Youre a good few miles away from the Launch Site so far away we can see that previously noisy train going up past you forever in, in, in the background. Now the 1st 3 minutes, it goes or it gets up to 62 miles up there in 3 minutes. It goes through a thing. Oh, its a positive thing called the common line. So thats where youre on the edge of not deep space but need a space. And then they have 4 minutes. Approximately 4 minutes of being weightless. Will we have a feet of pictures from inside the capsule at that moment . The at the moment we, we are not expecting to have a live feed. It is possible blueridge and says the Bell Attempt that. But if it is not possible, there will be cameras inside. They will be reporting the route or the the passengers. I suppose, youd call them more likely in that state of weightlessness for a few minutes. And then we will probably get those pictures after the blue Origin Shepherd News Shepherd Spacecraft has parachuted back down to earth after about 10 or 11 minute or so flight. And then after that, once everyone is, has exited the spacecraft, they will hold a Press Conference at their headquarters as you say that its remote location of good view kilometers away from we are where we are right now. But well certainly see eventually the, the worlds richest man, his brother, 82 year old wally funk and 18 year old Oliver Damon Experience that wait list this as as the the, the cross the carman line. Thats what the international agency that decides such things as decided is the boundary of space. A i remember the Richard Branson who flew in a space plane, virgin galactic from new mexico. Just over a Week Week ago, he didnt actually cross the carman lines. So there was a bit of, you know, Billionaire Sniping back and forth about who really went into space and so on. But branson, the for his part, i think thought that it was close enough for base us. He will cost that, that 100 kilometer limit and then will officially be in the outer space. So the richest man on the planet up space from deep in the heart of texas and ro, rob, do you stay with us . Well come back to you in a couple of minutes. Im sure. Well, as we wait for this launch T Minus 3 minutes and 8 Seconds Space Travel was until recently, of course the sol, domain of wealthy nations, but private 1000000000 as reaching for the stars could pave the way for strict rolled out to space treaties. First adopted by the un in the 60s that at principals for exploration by nation states, those broad agreements call for Space Travel to be pursued in common, collect a good and for countries to be responsibility, i guess for their activities. But now 3 billionaires have been competing in the stakes to get into space 11 Masks Space Ex Richard Bransons, virgin galactic the other 2, as well as the Pathos Program were talking about today. Experts, according for new clear rules to be drafted, to ensure space is protected from environmental hom and commercial exploitation. Were waiting for the launch. Lets talk to steven freeland, whos a Specialist And Space law, and a professor at western sidney university. He joins us from sydney. Steven, welcome to this special news out just briefly before we get into the nitty gritty of who can go to space and who owns it and who can buy land on the moon, etc. Because its all enshrined in treaties every once to get access to it. Whats the conversation thats going on right now on board . Do we think between the people in the capsule and Mission Control . I think theres always last minute checks for any launch and obviously this will be no different. So the people on Ground Mission Ground control the mission, control of going through all of the case because its possible that we could have the count down stopped at any time prior to launch theyre communicating with the people on board, just assuring them that all is going according to plan, theyre inquiring about how theyve feeling on board, but really its all of the time if it, the months and years of planning all of those things being checked, double checked, and rechecked one more time to ensure that all systems are in the best possible way to allow for this launch to happen, so the Launch Wont happen until someone presses the button and that could it could be stopped at any time prior in the next one minute and 7 seconds or so, hopefully all be, well, im glad you said the one minute and 7 seconds, i steven, because we understand the, well come back in just a moment, seen the autonomous system or the semi autonomous system has now taken over the process. Lets just open the faders and see if we get a sense of what the Mission Control. The thing about this. All right, here we go. Everybody. Thousands of people contributed yours to this historic moment. Maybe its time for your 1st human life. God, feed her through of new stuff, or lets light the candle. You want to 16 going to be minus 198765. Or come in and, and start to what the hot or you go or you know, might be smear to pass the maximum dynamic pressure one, the people are at their Max Max Max view is kind of font beautiful. Burn on that. Be 3 engine liquid. One liquid oxygen as the propellant, its a nice not as clean in terms of a beautifully performing, but what comes out of it . It steam, right . To see the see the glow of the, of the engine underneath the rocket just under our shoulders and to know that weve got a crew that is going to space it. It just feels different. Doesnt carry it. Its totally different. All right, you can follow along, of course the speedometer in the bottom left yell timid or in the middle of the screen there so far appears to be a nominal flight. Okay. Coming up here on Nico Commentators there for us in control. The Ladys Voice making the point when it went through my one. It goes several times faster than the speed of sound press. 4 minutes takes it up to that common line, 60 mile, up in the atmosphere. Thats the point. When space quotes begins, were talking to steven prelan, steve, and i mean that was amazing, astonishing to watch a little moment of history in the ongoing regenerated, i guess campaign of Space Exploration on the part of human kind because its had a few lumps and bumps one remembers, you know, what happened with the Space Shuttle Craft a few years back . Of course that was a huge donor in this ongoing program. But put this in context for me. Stephen, how does this compare to what rich branson did last week . How does it compare to even going as far back as see the apollo missions and also the Space Shuttle Program . Well, its extraordinary side. Even every launch is amazing. This is even more amazing knowing that theyre humans on board. What theyre doing through the sport, Richard Brands and done what others have done before because weve had others that have actually gone to the international sanction. Its only in 2001 is showing the possibility when you have the technology, when you have the capital, when you have to nation the possibility that something that humans more and more humans can go. Weve only had seen the 1960s. And remember the Anniversary Year of the 1st Year Garden and 91. 00. Theyve only been about between 50600 people that have gone to and so this shows the possibility that the numbers could increase. However, i think where a long way from a wide range, commercial industry that its been bouldins a table, i think was a long way to go. But you have to start somewhere if you want to move towards that goal. And what has happened when Richard Brandt White will be with completely different technology. And what were seeing at the moment shows that we are moving on a pop forward. And the possibilities become greater and right. And i think thats really exciting. Everybody intends all what space does for us. It inspires not. It brings us together. It also opens up possibility, the demons, grades, everything that we can do technologically. But we must always remember that by the incredibly important for us. And we must always learn to respect that its hardy because there are heavens along the way. But if we get it right, it right, incredible benefit. Not just for the reach and paintings, but ultimately hopefully in a whole range of way for all of us. And weve gotten in so many wonderful benefits in the past, and we continue to use space responsibly moving forward. Then theres no reason why we cant continue to generate benefits that the benefit of a whole range of people, but really exciting and its wonderful to watch. Lets hope all goes really well for the rest of the month. But when you talk about seeing the, the benefits for the rest of us, is there anyone down here on Planet Earth that really believes this is a boat heal on mosque Richard Branson or jeff, based off wanting to open up the easy jet. Ryan, a gates to space, travel for the rest of us, or is this actually about those 3 people trying to make even more money than they already have . Because 5 or 10 or 20 or 30 years down the line, they see their legacy company. Empires doing big business with big, wealthy governments, anywhere on the planet who want to say stake a territorial claim to the moon. Or the bull mars because ill on mosque is saying, ill be the Guy Hell take us to mars. Well, thats a great question peter. And of course the answer will be, depends who you ask. Some people say this is the beginning of something great for humanity. Others say this is kept people promoting their brand. You know, this will do wonders, of course, for the Amazon Brand more and the blue Origin Brand Brand more widely, whether this is a money making exercise, commercial Space Tourism. I think we still have a long way to go that what this demonstrates for these companies is they have technological where with all to perhaps look at more ambitious mission with other with vassar and perhaps other agencies where there is real money involved. And i think all of this is about brand creation, albeit with wonderful technology. But you right pita, a lot of people question whether this is something that really for the benefit of a wide Spread Range of people, whether Face Tourism will be something, look at that. Whether stephen, im just going to interrupt you for a 2nd, just to clarify what were looking at. What were looking at right now. As youre talking to us was the Booster Rocket doing what its supposed to do, which is getting itself vertically back to where it should be. And that of itself just just watching those few seconds. That was pure Science Fiction that gave one a little pulse of adrenalin because it looked like something from a movie. So you know, whether its the same technology that branson is using or not. It just looks compelling and captivating. And i guess Thats Part of the appeal, isnt it . Absolutely. The, the optics of this, and again, i dont want to dismiss the technology. Its wonderful technology that the optics. Im really something that these companies are really banking on. Stephen, ive been interrupt you again. I for which i apologize, but we must go to our correspondent rob, whos a little bit closer than you are and i am so rob the cap seals actually coming down as well. Now. Yes, and we just heard a loud boom as the the rocket itself. There is another boom. The rocket itself descended and, and landed when trying to see the live feed here, it looks like the Rocket Booster has landed successfully. Its upright. So the new Shepherd Capsule is still up in space right now. Getting ready to descend. We saw the con, the rail of the ascending rocket a few moments ago just behind us. Fantastic site in the, the clear blue Texas Guy here. And we could hear also the audio feed from inside the capsule of jeff bay. Those and the 3 other passengers are just whooping and shouting and yelping for joy. Lots of expressions of delight from inside the capsule. Very, very animated group of people. Theyre obviously on the trip of a lifetime. And it looks now as if the, the, the Shepherd Lander has deployed. Its the ship, the new shepherd has deployed its parachutes. You see the brightly colored parachutes. Theyre opening up and the capsule is heading for earth. Going to make a soft landing, there will be a little sort of puff of compressed air at the very end, so that the landing is even softer with these large parachutes deployed ro. There we go over peter, and its down in a little puff of Dust And Sand right in the middle. Right, in the heart of texas there 1st, you mean were going to assume that everyone on board had the right of a lifetime. Everyone is okay. And its taken what . 1518 minutes to witness a little bit of history being made. This guy works. Everybodys amanda spots patrol oliver. Thank you so much. I think they got the 1st Step. Youre very happy can come here as well. Lets do a status check. Astronaut oliver, over, its got the extra copy after net demo demo, i have believably good coffee with control base. Those that today are you everyone remain in your feet. Remember, 7 is on their way shortly. You will hear the capital off gas in okay, lets say with those i think they are talking about Astronaut Number 7. Presumably thats the person, the man or the woman who walks up to outside of capsule taps on the door and says, welcome back to Planet Earth. Were talking to steven freeland, whos joining us down the line from sidney steven, apologies again for interrupting you twice, that you were in full flow. Im intrigued to go back to a point that you mentioned that stephen about everything that we got from quotes, the Space Race. Now, the apollo missions and the Space Race that was kind of borne out of primarily the us military squaring off, you know, during the cold war up against the russian military. And there was always the prospect of the chinese military off in the background as we know fast forward to where we are today. The chinese have big, properly grown up, serious ambitions for what they want to do in space. But the american space mission, i can remember this when i was a boy, when i was a child intrigued and interested in it, we were told were going to get new cures for diseases. Were going to get fabulous bits of technology. What happened was in effect, Neil Armstrong bought back some rock and people said, thanks, neil, but weve got plenty of rock where we all ready and the rest of the world got velcro. And that was kind of it. We didnt get what we were sold. We were going to get so what do we get as of what weve been watching in real time in the past 20 minutes . Well, thats a really good question. What weve been watching, the last 20 minutes showed that i fit the possibilities, the endless possibilities to human than the human spirit. But what are we got from space . Pay to we, weve got so many benefits from, from space over the past 60 years. The entire planets, every country, every human being in one way, Shape Or Form has benefit in many ways. No way we use space. You and i use space every day without even thinking about it. In terms of where the forecasting, disaster management, agricultural management, im watching knowledge of the are alive because its a federal 3 satellite. There is so many ways that our excursions adventures technologies in space have given humanity. So many benefits. That said, it also is a really large and growing very quickly. Commercial sector. The commercial Space Sector in 2020 with about. Oh, look at that. There. It was about 400000000000. 00 us dollars and growing, even during the coven time space and grew. And so you have, in a sense, different add an object if you have the use of space, which will give these incredible benefits to everybody. But of course, you also have companies wishing to promote the brand to develop technology, then ultimately to make money because it cost them a lot of money to engage in activities like this. Im not sure as i say, that we will have a viable, large range commercial Space Tourism industry anytime soon. But the if and other successes by other companies certainly will promote those companies and show the agencies that they are capable of doing things and therefore perhaps get other contracts taking people to other places. He talked about the moon. You talked about beyond that. Ultimately, the idea is to have humans go to the moon again, returning and maybe go elsewhere. And you mentioned the ambitions for mars. Theres lots of law that will have to deal with all of that. Theres lots of technological challenges. Theres lots of ideas about what they feel we need to have all of those conversations and i think thats really important. But we should not in any way, not forget that this is also an incredible achievement as, as what the chief meant by Richard Branson. As was the achievement by many companies in what they do in space, this is just another technological achievement that we should rejoice. But recognize that space is something that helps all of us. And we must focus on the idea that space. Notwithstanding the commercial ambitions of companies that by and large space is something that we should use peacefully to help. Ok, many people are going to the moment. Thank you so much that you can see theyve got the been like theyve got the sun man, theyve got the camera man. I want to stay with these live shots until we see Jeff Bays off and his travelling companions, i guess we can call them quite the journey. Everyones clearly very excited and very happy all at the same time. And theyll still be on a high. Theyll still be processing what theyve just done, what theyve just been through the distance they traveled in the space for 12 minutes or so straight up. 62 miles. Do you . We come back down safely. 62 high house were talking to Rob Reynolds correspondent, rob i might have to interrupt you because clearly we want to get the money shot. If theres a Sun Bite coming live from mister bays off or any of his companions inside the caps, you will take it, of course, but theyre processing, theyre working out what theyve achieved. Theyre just living in the moment and enjoying the moment. It must be an incredible buzz for these people. I can only imagine, peter. This is the combination for, for Jeff Bezos, of many years of ambition, and many billions of dollars invested. You could see him of sure while ago giving a thumbs up through the window of the, the new Shepherd Capsule. And heard him several minutes before that saying, best day ever. So for somebody whos, you know, made 200000000000 dollars and change through his life to have this be the best day ever its, its probably been pretty thrilling for him. And for the other 3, i would imagine his brother, 82. 00, youre 53 year old jeff, mark bay. Those got a wonder what Mark Base those is going to what, what Jeff Bezos is going to buy his brother for his birthday. You know, after getting this kind of a present a trip into the outer space and the, the, the other members of the team there, you can see them about to come out. I believe lots of thumbs up