Bess said physical preparation for the flight hasn’t been too arduous—“they’ve really tried to make this as consumer-friendly as possible”—though he did begin exercising and dropped 17 pounds from his 6-foot, 2-inch frame.
The flight will also serve as a bonding experience for Bess and his son, Cameron, a 23-year-old content creator and software developer who’ll also be on board. The pair used to shoot rockets together when Cameron was young, but their shared time lessened as Bess’s career grew more demanding. The flight, he said, was an opportunity to reconnect.
Aside from sating his curiosity about space and the thrilling 63-mile-high view of Earth, Bess said one thing he’s most looking forward to is meeting Bezos, who’ll be at the launch site. He said he intends to ask him about his longer-term vision for Blue Origin and to thank him for helping realize his dream.
“Unlike SpaceX, Jeff Bezos has funded this primarily at his own cost,” he said. “When you look at the facilities they’ve built and the engineering brilliance, it’s the kind of commitment very few people on Earth can make.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.