Alex McColgan

and did publish a rough report on the progress of the rocket it was developing, but it was not until 2015 that it began to speak more openly about its goals.

And those goals had not changed much from when Bezos was young.

Blue Origin's first commercial rocket, the New Shepard, named after Alan Shepard, the first American to go into space,

was also a tourism rocket.

But Bezos made it clear in speeches that he did not intend to stop there.

In his mind, this was just a beginning.

In 2016, he made a speech where he compared the space industry now with aviation back in its infant days.

In the early days of airplane flight,

A big portion of people flying were those seeking the simple thrill of flying in a plane.

This tourism and entertainment factor expanded interest in the industry, which made it so many companies developed the technology further.

Nowadays, almost anyone can buy a plane ticket.

Although spacecraft tickets are extremely expensive for now, in the long run Bezos said that the space industry could go the same way.

Bezos' rocket, the New Shepard, is a little different in design from Branson's.

It has a more standard thruster that carries an observation pod up into the sky, which then detaches.

It also goes higher than Spaceship Two, crossing the Kármán line to a height of around 107km.

It also travels much faster.

The whole trip, from takeoff to landing, will only last about 11 minutes.

unlike Virgin Galactic's 2 hours, although it will no doubt carry a similar price tag for tickets.

And Bezos is already looking ahead.

Although 107km is over the Kármán line, it is still far from true orbit.