Jeff Bezos flight: What time does Blue Origin crew go to space and how can you watch?

(Blue Origin)

Jeff Bezos is about to head to space, making history and causing controversy as he goes.

The Amazon founder and former chief executive will fly in a spacecraft made by his private rocket company, Blue Origin, on a short flight that will see him leave the Earth and then fall back down again.

As he goes, he will be accompanied by a group of three other passengers: his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen, who paid $28 million for his ticket after the winner of an auction said they were too busy.

Their trip will be streamed live online, with people able to watch the short but long trip from beginning to end.

That is only expected to take about 11 minutes: the crew will barely be in space before they start falling back down again, ready to land.

That live stream begins at 7.30am eastern time, or 12.30pm in the UK, on 20 July. It will be able to view on Blue Origin’s website, and covered live on The Independent.

>> Follow our live coverage of Blue Origin’s flight here. <<

The launch is then scheduled for 9am eastern – 2pm UK, or 90 minutes after the stream starts.

Strictly speaking, the window only opens at this time: it can actually launch later than that, and rocket launches are regularly delayed for a variety of reasons including weather problems or safety concerns. Even what seem like relatively trivial issues can lead to significant delays, and the launch could be pushed back to another day entirely.