Residents of the Dutch city of Rotterdam are planning to throw rotten eggs on the Y721 superyacht of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos when it passes the historic Koningshaven bridge, the structure must be specially dismantled for this. 

On the event page, Rotterdamers are asked to bring a package of rotten eggs or tomatoes to throw at Bezos' yacht. The event is scheduled for June 1, more than 17 thousand people are already interested in it, of which almost 4 thousand are going to come to the bridge. “Rotterdam was built from rubble by residents and we can’t just take it apart for the phallic symbol of a megalomaniac billionaire. Not without a fight! — wrote the organizer of the event, Pablo Strörmann.

Last week, city officials announced the partial removal of the bridge to allow Bezos' $485 million yacht, which is 40 meters high, to pass into the sea. It is expected that the dismantling will take several weeks and will take place in the summer, and the structure will be restored in its current form at the expense of the billionaire. At the same time, the mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Abutaleb, said that a final decision had not yet been made.

Koningshaven Bridge was built in the 19th century, it was restored after the bombings during the Second World War, and in 2000 the object was declared a historical monument. After a major overhaul in 2017, the local council promised that the bridge would never be taken down again.

1.Throwing eggs

2.Float it under the bridge

3.Too big

4.Suffering of the billionaires

Dutch defenders of old architecture have said they will throw rotten eggs on Jeff Bezos' superyacht if Rotterdam City Hall decides to dismantle part of the 140-year-old Koningshaven (De Hef) bridge, reports De Havenloods. The city is considering temporarily dismantling one of the sections of the iconic metal structure so that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' new Y721 sailing superyacht can safely overcome this so far impenetrable barrier on its water transportation route.

The rotten egg idea came from an activist named Pablo Strörmann. Ready in case of something to join the protest in this form, he is looking for in Facebook.

“Rotterdam has actually been rebuilt from rubble by locals and we are not going to just let it be taken apart for the sake of a phallic symbol of a megalomaniac billionaire,” Strörmann wrote on the social network with a determined attitude.

At the time of publication of the news, Strörmann's call was of interest to 13,750 people. They agree with Bezos, the initiator of the besieging of the yacht, that having a huge fortune does not give the right to do everything only in accordance with their desires.

5.Good plan

6.That’s weird

7.Build bridges in America

Last week, the mayor of Rotterdam denied reports that a final decision had already been made on the temporary dismantling of the bridge, which was overhauled in 2017. However, Jeff Bezos, as the owner of the yacht and its builder Oceanco, even if they changed their mind and did not insist on dismantling the bridge section, has no alternative course of action. Oceanco built the yacht upriver in the town of Alblasserdam, and from there there is no other route capable of taking the giant ship to the sea.

Part of a historic bridge in the Netherlands will be dismantled to allow the superyacht built for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to cross the river that runs through Rotterdam, city officials said Thursday.

The middle section of the 95-year-old Koningshaven Bridge will be dismantled this summer to allow a sailing yacht to pass, a spokeswoman for the city of Rotterdam said. The bridge, known as "De Hef", will then be rebuilt, possibly on the same day.

According to a spokesman, Bezos' yacht must pass under all other bridges in Rotterdam. They didn't have an estimate of how much the deconstruction would cost, but she said the shipbuilder would pay, not the people of Rotterdam. There will be no structural changes to the bridge.

Amazon representatives did not respond to requests for comment on the price or destination of the yacht. A spokeswoman for Oceanco, the Dutch yacht company that builds the boat, said in an email Thursday that she could not comment on projects under construction or clients due to privacy concerns.

Boat International, which publishes articles on the superyacht industry, said the 417-foot sailboat will be the largest sailing yacht in the world when completed later this year, surpassing Sea Cloud, a 360-foot sailing vessel built in 1931 and owned by Yacht Portfolio, an investment company based in Malta.

8.Angry citizens

9.Historic moment

10.We are in the same boat

Mister. Bezos is the second richest person in the world, after Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

The bridge, which is 130 feet long, is not currently in use. Rotterdam tour guide Eddy Le Couvreur said the bridge, designed by Dutch architect Peter Josting and anchored on the Rotterdam skyline, was once used for rail traffic. A vertical drawbridge, it was the first of its kind in the Netherlands and was copied from designs in the United States. The modern industrial aesthetic of the bridge inspired a short film in 1928, he said.

So far, tall ships have passed under the bridge before the masts and taller structures are assembled, he said.

Dennis Tuck, a Labor Party member of the Rotterdam City Council, said he was not opposed to removing the bridge as Mr. Bezos was paying for it - because of the jobs that were to be done on the bridge. “This is a great way for the city to take some of its money,” he said. So said.

This structure is more than just a bridge for the people of Rotterdam,” said Siebe Thyssen, author of The Boy Who Jumped from the Bridge, about a working-class man who jumped off the bridge in 1933. “This is a monument. ," he said. "That's the personality of Rotterdam."

There were big protests when city officials tried to demolish the bridge in the 1990s because it was no longer in use, he said. According to him, the bridge is a reminder of the old days in Rotterdam.

"I think that's why there's so much confusion around Jeff Bezos and his boat," he said, before turning to the allegations against Amazon. "People say, 'Why this guy?' It's a working city, and they all know that Jeff Bezos exploits his workers, of course, so people say, "Why can this guy take down the bridge for his boat?"

As of Thursday, about 500 Facebook users have said they will take part in an event called "Egg Throwing at Jeff Bezos' Superyacht," where they gather at the bridge to throw eggs at the boat. The person listed as the organizer of the event did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Le Couvreur, who works for Tours by Locals, which connects tourists with local guides, said Rotterdam residents are likely to receive international attention and watch the spectacle. “On the other hand, it shows the unimaginable wealth that people like Bezos have created for themselves, that nothing can stop them from fulfilling their dreams and passions. Worlds, except for those who will watch the ship pass through the city.

11.The king has to pass

12.Smaller boat

13.Are you sure?

14.Getting ready

15.Smaller support yacht

16.Feeling regal

17.Stifle innovation

18.Park my boat in the boat

19.Buy the bridge

20.End world hunger

21.Unionize

22.Compensating for something

23.Too damn high

24.Action plan

25.Good news

26.Tax the Rich

27.Super Yacht manufactures

28.Lex Luthor

29.Enough of this dude

30.Good jokes

$ 160 billion - this is the amount that the Amazon founder's fortune is estimated at. His path can hardly be repeated, but one can and should learn from his mistakes and decisions. Seven years without profit and analysts' forecasts about imminent bankruptcy - we tell how an entrepreneur managed to overcome difficulties and build a company worth more than $ 1 trillion.

Jeff Bezos is considered one of the pioneers of e-commerce. In 1994, he left his position as vice president of a Wall Street company to start his own business. Dropping everything, he moved to Seattle, where he began to develop his plan.

 

Bezos was about to name his business Cadabra, but a lawyer convinced him not to - the word was consonant with the word cadaver. Finally, the entrepreneur settled on Amazon, in honor of the largest river in the world - hence the original company logo.

 

Seattle was chosen by Bezos as headquarters. It was easy to find technicians there, and there was a huge market for book distributors in neighboring Oregon. Bezos started looking for money for the project, while programmers began developing the company's website.

The site Amazon.com began its work in 1995 and within a few months hit all kinds of Internet ratings.

Bezos currently owns 54 million shares in Amazon, bringing his fortune to more than $ 170 billion. Since the beginning of the year, the company's shares have risen 73%, including a 2.1% increase on Wednesday, August 5th.

 

Amazon has seen the highest profit in the company's 26-year history in recent months, despite investors estimating that profits will be wiped out because of the $ 4 billion cost of the health crisis.

 

On Quora people try to find how much money goes to Bezos when we buy something. Bemorepanda selected the top answers.

1.

2.

3.

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Jeff Bezos is the first man to reach a fortune of 200 billion dollars, more precisely 204.6 billion. It happened after the capital of Amazon, the company he founded, increased by 2%. Thus, the wealth of Jeff Bezos became 90 billion higher than that of Bill Gates, who is in second place in the top of the world's rich.

 

Experts say the Amazon founder's fortune would have been even greater if he hadn't gone through the most expensive divorce in history last year. His ex-wife received 25% of the company's shares, which are now worth $ 63 billion.

 

Meanwhile, people started joking and creating funny memes about Jeff Bezos. Bemorepanda collected the top 50 funniest memes!

 

1.Giving bonuses to Amazon workers is a good idea

 

2.Jess doesn't buy shampoo

 

3.The stonks meme is finally released

 

4.Losing fans

 

5.Literally the same

 

6.Gef Bisos

 

7.Amazonians

 

8.Oligarchic Dozen

 

9.Eye to eye

 

10.What Jeff do before he goes to bed?

 

11.Single vs Married

 

12.Amazon

 

13.Rich americans

 

14.Similarities?

 

15.Is this the same person?

 

16.Money can't buy happiness

 

17.The richest person

 

18.Increase in net worth 2020

 

19.Virgin modern billionaire

 

20.China stealing technology

 

21.Sniffing cocaine

 

22.Adopted Jeff

 

23.1$ for sex

 

24.Jeff Benzos

 

25.Pizz for a team

 

26.Giving back

 

27.Owning amazon

 

28.Encouraging reminder

 

29.Giving back to Jeff community

 

30.Selling books firstly

 

31.Overpowered characters are bald

 

32.Jeff Bezos evolution

 

33.Saving private property 2

 

34.Work hard

 

35.Dressing up Jeff

 

36.Bow before your king

 

37.Self-made billionaires

 

38.Worldwide shipping

 

39.Amazon warehouses

 

40.Looting is absolutely unforgivable

 

41.Rich man

 

42.Perfection

 

43.Worldwide Amazon shipping

 

44.This guy made coronavirus

 

45.Trillionaire

 

46.After buying and then blasting the Netflix HQ

 

47.When he closes his eyes

 

48.Bezos be like

 

49.Being bald

 

50.Being an Amazon dragon

 

 

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The content available on the Bemorepanda.com website can be copied and republished in the limit of 200 characters and in the limit of 10 pictures and must include the URL of the article. It is forbidden to completely copy the material and place it anywhere else without indicating the link and the full name of the page.

 

According to estimates by the authoritative financial and economic magazine Forbes, in 2022 2,755 billionaires in the world own a total capital of $13.1 trillion. At the same time, the richest people live in the USA - 724 and China - 698.

 

The ten richest people in the world have more than doubled their wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is reported by the international association Oxfam.

 

Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX CEO, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, former Microsoft CEOs Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer, former Microsoft CEO Oracle Larry Ellison, US investor Warren Buffett, and French luxury head Bernard Arnault. The fortune of the richest of them, Elon Musk, increased by 1016%.

 

The list of world richest men in 2022

 

The report indicates that these people collectively own more wealth than the 3.1 billion poorest people on Earth, and if they spent a million dollars every day, then their entire fortune would be spent only after 414 years. “Explosive growth in billionaire fortunes at a time when poverty is rising exposes the fundamental flaws in our economy,” Oxfam chief executive Danny Shrishkandaraja said.

 

50. Alain Wertheimer $28.2 billion

Alain Wertheimer is a French businessman who, along with his brother Gérard, owns a majority stake in the house of Chanel, and is an investor in Bell & Ross.

 

49. Leonid Mikhelson $28.5 billion

Leonid Viktorovich Mikhelson is a Russian businessman and manager, billionaire. Chairman of the Board of the Russian gas company PAO Novatek, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and the largest shareholder of the leading Russian petrochemical holding Sibur.

 

48. Alexey Mordashov $28.5 billion

Leonid Viktorovich Mikhelson is a Russian businessman and manager, billionaire. Chairman of the Board of the Russian gas company PAO Novatek, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and the largest shareholder of the leading Russian petrochemical holding Sibur.

 

47. Shiv Nadar $29.1 billion

Shiv Nadar is an Indian billionaire industrialist and philanthropist. He is the Founder and Honorary Chairman of HCL Technologies Limited and the Shiv Nadar Foundation.

 

46. Tadashi Yanai $29.2 billion

Tadashi Yanai is a Japanese billionaire businessman and founder and president of Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo.

 

45. Dieter Schwarz $29.6 billion

Dieter Schwarz is a German billionaire businessman and owner of the Schwarz-Gruppe. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of the Lidl supermarket chain and the Kaufland hypermarket chain.

 

44. Vladimir Potanin $30.2 billion

Vladimir Olegovich Potanin is a Russian businessman, statesman, and politician.

 

43. Ken Griffin $30.4 billion

Kenneth "Ken" Griffin is an American billionaire investor and financier. Founder and CEO of investment fund Citadel LLC, founded in 1990 and now managing $28 billion in assets. Also owns Citadel Securities.

 

42. Miriam Adelson $30.4 billion

Miriam Adelson is an Israeli American doctor and billionaire. After her marriage to American business tycoon Sheldon Adelson in 1991, she became a contributor to conservative political causes in the United States and Israel.

 

41. Li Ka-Shing $31.1 billion

Li Ka-Shing is a Hong Kong entrepreneur and philanthropist, one of the most influential businessmen in Asia. As of 2012, he was the richest person in Hong Kong and Asia, and also ranked ninth among the richest people in the world.

                      

40. Leonard Lauder $31.2 billion        

Leonard Alan Lauder is an American billionaire, philanthropist, and art collector. He and his brother, Ronald Lauder, are the sole heirs of the Estée Lauder Companies cosmetic fortune, founded by their parents, Estée Lauder and Joseph Lauder in 1946.

                

39. Leonardo Del Vecchio $31.2 billion

Leonardo Del Vecchio is an Italian billionaire businessman, founder, and chairman of Luxottica, the world's largest manufacturer and retailer of eyewear and frames, with 77,734 employees and more than 8,000 stores.

                       

38. He Xiangjian $31.3 billion          

He Xiangjian is the co-founder of Midea, one of the largest home appliance manufacturers in China. As of September 2021, his net worth was estimated by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index at $28.8 billion, placing him at #51 in the rankings.

              

37. William Ding $31.7 billion                      

He Xiangjian is the co-founder of Midea, one of the largest home appliance manufacturers in China. As of September 2021, his net worth was estimated by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index at $28.8 billion, placing him at #51 in the rankings.

 

36. Azim Premji $33.8 billion

Azim Hashim Premji is an Indian businessman, philanthropist, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wipro Limited, which owns Wipro Technologies, one of India's largest software companies.

                       

35. Pallonji Mistry $34.3 billion                     

Pallonji Shapurji Mistry is an Indian-born Irish billionaire, construction mogul, and chairman of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Ireland's richest man. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he is worth $28.0 billion as of April 9, 2021.

 

34. Giovanni Ferrero $35.1 billion        

Giovanni Ferrero is an Italian writer, entrepreneur, and billionaire. After the death of his father and brother, he headed the company for the production of chocolate and various sweets Ferrero SpA.

         

33. Stephen Schwarzman $36.5 billion

Steven Schwartzman is an American businessman and investor. Head of investment company Blackstone Group. Schwartzman's fortune, according to Forbes magazine, is 40.9 billion USD.

                       

32. Klaus-Michael Kuehne $37.3 billion

Klaus-Michael Kuehne is a German billionaire businessman. He is the honorary chairman and principal owner of the international transport company Kühne + Nagel, co-founded by his grandfather August Kühne.

                       

31. Len Blavatnik $38.3 billion

Sir Leonid Valentinovich Blavatnik was an American and British businessman and industrialist of Jewish origin. In 2015, he topped the list of the richest people in the UK according to the Sunday Times.

                       

30. Jack Ma $38.4 billion    

Ma Yun, better known as Jack Ma, is a Chinese entrepreneur and founder of Alibaba Group. The first businessman from mainland China to be featured on the cover of Forbes magazine. As of mid-April 2021, Bloomberg estimated the entrepreneur's fortune at $51.5 billion.

                    

29. Zhang Yiming $44.5 billion           

Zhang Yiming is a Chinese internet entrepreneur. He founded ByteDance in 2012 and developed the Toutiao news aggregator and TikTok video-sharing platform, formerly known as Musical.ly.

             

28. Zeng Yuqun $48.0 billion

Zeng Yun, also known as Robin Zeng, is a Chinese billionaire entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology.                      

27. Ma Huateng $48.1 billion

Ma Huateng is a Chinese entrepreneur, founder, and chairman of the board of directors of the Tencent telecommunications company, a billionaire. On May 5, 2018, Forbes magazine ranked 4th among billionaires with a fortune of $ 42.6 billion.

                       

26. John Mars $48.7 billion   

John Franklin Mars is an American entrepreneur and business magnate. Son of Forrest Mars Sr. and grandson of Frank Mars, founder of the American confectionery company Mars, Incorporated. As a member of the Mars family, he owns $48.7 billion in Mars Incorporated and other assets.

                 

25. Francois Pinault $49.4 billion

François Pinault is a French businessman, collector and philanthropist. In 2010, Pino's fortune is estimated at $49.4 billion, which puts him on the 25th line in the list of the richest people in the world according to Forbes.

                       

24. MacKenzie Scott $51.4 billion

McKenzie Scott is an American writer, philanthropist, and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. As of 2021, Forbes estimates Scott's net worth at $59.8 billion.

                     

23. Phil Knight & family $54.9 billion                   

Phil Knight is an American businessman and co-founder of Nike. Graduate of the University of Oregon and Stanford Business School. In 2006, he made the largest private donation in the history of the Stanford Business School.

   

22. Michael Dell $56.8 billion   

Michael Saul Dell is an American entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of Dell. He started his company in artisanal conditions, providing home-made modifications of the IBM PC.                      

21. Charles Koch $58.4 billion   

Charles Koch - American billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist; co-owner, chairman, and director of Koch Industries. His brother David Koch was his co-owner and executive vice president of the company.

                     

20. Amancio Ortega $60.6 billion

Amancio Ortéga Gaóna - Spanish entrepreneur, billionaire, founder, and former president of Inditex; the company owns 6,750 stores in 88 countries. In addition, Ortega has invested in real estate in Florida, Madrid, London, and Lisbon, the gas industry, tourism, and banks.

                       

19. Rob Walton $62.1 billion

    

Samuel Robson "Rob" Walton is an American billionaire heir to the Walmart fortune, the world's largest retailer. He is the eldest son of Helen Walton and Sam Walton and was chairman of Walmart from 1992 to 2015.

                  

18. Jim Walton $62.5 billion         

Translated from English.-James Carr Walton is an American businessman, currently the heir to the fortune of Walmart, the world's largest retailer. As of March 2022, Walton was the seventeenth richest person in the world with a net worth of US$62.5 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is the youngest son of Sam Walton.

               

17. Carlos Slim $68.6 billion      

Carlos Slim Elu is a Mexican businessman of Lebanese origin, the son of Maronite immigrants from Lebanon. Billionaire, one of the richest people on the planet. According to Forbes, from 2010 to 2013 he was the richest man in the world.

                  

16. Michael Bloomberg $70 billion                      

Michael Rubens Bloomberg is an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist.

 

15. Changpeng Zhao $72.2 billion

Changpeng Zhao is the founder and CEO of Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Known in the crypto community as CZ. In an interview with Bloomberg in April 2021, Changpeng said that “Binance probably has the most exchange licenses worldwide.”

                       

14. Zhong Shanshan $77.5 billion        

Zhong Shanshan is a Chinese entrepreneur, founder and chairman of the Nongfu Spring beverage company, and the main owner of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise, a billionaire.

                

13. Mark Zuckerberg $78.2 billion    

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American media mogul, Internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Known as the co-founder of Meta and is its chairman, chief executive officer, and shareholder.

                    

12. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers $81.3 billion          

  Françoise Bettencourt-Myers is a French entrepreneur, after the death of her mother Liliane Bettencourt in September 2017, she received an inheritance of $ 39.5 billion. As of March 2019, with a fortune of $ 49.3 billion, she is the richest woman on the planet and ranks 20th in the ranking richest people on earth.

           

11. Gautam Adani $87.8 billion                      

Gautam Shantilal Adani is an Indian billionaire industrialist and philanthropist. He is the chairman and founder of the Adani Group, an Ahmedabad-based multinational conglomerate with port development and operations in India.

 

10. Mukesh Ambani $91.9 billion  

Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani is an Indian businessman and the richest person in India according to Forbes magazine in 2008, given that the billionaire Lakshmi Mittal lives permanently in the UK.

                      

9. Larry Ellison $93.3 billion    

Lawrence Joseph Ellison is an American entrepreneur, co-founder, chairman of the board of directors and chief technology officer of Oracle Corporation, former CEO of Oracle, the largest shareholder of NetSuite, and an initial investor in Salesforce.com.

                    

8. Steve Ballmer $104 billion

Stephen Anthony Ballmer is a billionaire CEO of Microsoft Corporation from January 2000 to February 2014. Owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers.

                       

7. Sergey Brin  $112 billion

Sergey Brin is an American programmer and internet entrepreneur. He co-founded Google with Larry Page. Brin was the president of Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google until he stepped down from that position on December 3, 2019.

                       

6. Warren Buffett $114 billion              

Warren Edward Buffett is an American entrepreneur, one of the largest and most famous investors in the world, whose fortune was estimated at $108.4 billion as of September 2018, $84.9 billion as of February 12, 2019, and in 2022 - $114 billion, which made his sixth richest man in the world.       

 

5. Larry Page $117 billion

Lawrence Edward "Larry" Page is an American programmer, developer, and co-founder of the Google search engine.

                       

4. Bill Gates $125 billion          

William Henry Gates III, better known as Bill Gates, is an American businessman and public figure, philanthropist, one of the founders and former largest shareholder of Microsoft.

           

3. Bernard Arnault $160 billion

Bernard Arnault is a French billionaire businessman, president, and CEO of the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy group of companies. In April 2018, he was recognized as the richest man in Europe. On January 18, 2020, Arno became the richest man in the world, Forbes estimated his fortune at $117 billion. In 2022 he is the third richest man in the world with $160 billion.

                       

2. Jeff Bezos $177 billion                

Jeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos is an American entrepreneur, founder of the Internet company Amazon.com, founder and owner of the aerospace company Blue Origin, owner of the publishing house The Washington Post.

      

1. Elon Musk $220 billion                      

Elon Reeve Musk is an American entrepreneur, engineer, and billionaire.

 

Founder, co-owner, CEO, and chief engineer of SpaceX; CEO and chief ideological inspirer (Chief Product Architect) of Tesla; also served on the board of directors of SolarCity, founded by his cousins, before its merger with Tesla.

 

For outstanding services to science on May 9, 2018, he was awarded membership of the Royal Society of London.

 

On January 7, 2021, with an estimated fortune of $185 billion, he became the world's richest man for the first time, displacing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to second place. On November 1, 2021, he became the first person in history to reach the $300 billion mark. In 2022 he is the richest man in the world and his estate is $220 billion.

 

 

 

In recent years, the two wealthiest people on the planet have been competing not only on Earth but also beyond. The article explains how much it costs to fly into space, why some flights can hardly be called space flights, and what private space programs are criticized for.

 

Elon Musk and SpaceX

 

Elon Musk is the wealthiest man on the planet with a fortune of $ 220 billion at the time of writing, one of the founders of the PayPal payment system, a space enthusiast, and CEO of two of the most prominent American companies in the fields of electric cars and space equipment - Tesla and SpaceX.

 

SpaceX was established in 2002 and, during its existence, has managed to develop a whole series of Falcon launch vehicles of various payloads, as well as the Dragon space shuttle, designed to replenish supplies to the ISS. This ship is launched into orbit by the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, the latest in the series.

 

The main feature of these launch vehicles is that they are reusable. They are equipped with special equipment for return and vertical landing.

 

The second version of the Falcon 9 flew for the first time last September with space tourists on board.

 

The company has two ambitious goals - to contribute to the colonization of Mars and to reduce the cost of manufacturing space equipment as much as possible.

 

Over the 20 years of its existence, SpaceX has managed to conduct many successful launches. Among them are dockings with the ISS, the launch of shuttles into low Earth orbit, and even the launch of one of Tesla Motors' electric cars into space.

 

 

But there were also significant failures. For example, the first Falcon 1 rocket exploded at launch, and the attempt to correct the situation for many years did not yield any results. The second and third versions of the missile also exploded in subsequent years.

 

And only by 2008, on the fourth attempt, did they finally manage to launch a rocket into space.

 

Problems also arose during the landing of launch vehicles on water. It was not immediately possible to establish a working landing system - from 2013 to 2016, the landing systems of the missiles regularly failed.

 

SpaceX is not limited to flights alone. The company is also building a global Starlink satellite network to provide the entire population of the Earth with a fast internet connection.

 

Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin

 

Bezos is the founder of the world's largest online retailer Amazon, the private aerospace company Blue Origin, and the owner of The Washington Post. He is also known for his charitable work and the fact that for many years he has been competing with Musk for the title of the wealthiest man on the planet, but at the moment, he is slightly inferior to him, with a fortune of $ 173 billion.

 

He founded his space company two years earlier, but its goal is almost identical - significantly reducing the cost of producing rockets and equipment.

 

Blue Origin has working shuttles and launch vehicles in its arsenal, prototypes that have yet to be built and tested, and rocket engines. Among them:

 

New Shepard is one of the first projects of the company. This is a reusable spacecraft, a human-crewed capsule with a capacity of up to 6 people. It flies only in suborbital space. The first launch took place last summer. On board, in addition to Bezos himself, were his brother, an 82-year-old woman who was a former pilot, and an 18-year-old graduate of the school.

The New Glenn is an even heavier reusable launch vehicle that uses one of the company's specially designed engines. There are plans to use the shuttle to deliver satellites and people into orbit, but launches have been delayed for several years.

Blue Moon is a moon rocket that the company has developed for one of NASA's latest space programs.

 

Not exactly spaceflight

 

It would seem that both companies are doing about the same thing, but what is the difference? The answer is range.

 

Bezos's company is currently mainly engaged in suborbital flights, that is, flights with low speed to enter the orbit of an artificial Earth satellite. To overcome this barrier, the ship must reach the first space velocity - almost 8 km / s.

 

For example, the relatively recently launched New Shepard flew 100 kilometers, although the altitude of low Earth orbit is almost one and a half times higher.

 

Richard Branson and his company Virgin Galactic are also engaged in similar flights. Last summer, he and other space tourists made a suborbital flight on the Unity rocket.

 

SpaceX The mask plays big and launches rockets into space. The two-stage Falcon 9 boosters push the spacecraft through the atmosphere, breaking first space velocity, while the shuttle's engines are already starting to work in orbit.

 

The last flight took place last year. During it, the Crew Dragon spacecraft, with ordinary people on board, rose to a height of 585 km and entered the Earth's orbit. It was the company's first "tourist" launch.

 

Space tourism

 

In the United States, flights, including those near space, are the responsibility of the Federal Aviation Administration - FAA. According to his criteria, anything below 80 km from Earth is not yet considered space.

 

Branson's and Bezos' shuttles are quickly up to the mark, earning the billionaires their official astronaut title late last year. The FAA gave them the Astronaut Wings badge of honor, a significant award in commercial space missions.

 

Musk is generally happy that his competitors are funding space projects but emphasizes that suborbital flights are the first step in the right direction.

 

Criticism

 

Unfortunately, such flights' importance for science development is often downplayed and perceived only as entertainment for the rich. And there are reasons for that.

 

According to NASA, flying into space is not cheap.

 

To fly on Bezos' ship, you have to pay $28 million - this is the cheapest offer on the market.

 

A flight on the SpaceX shuttle will cost $60 million, and on a Virgin Galactic Unity rocket, as much as $250 million before the first successful launch, and after that, already $450 million per seat.

 

Space tourism is also present in Russia. Roskosmos is going to send two people to the ISS until 2023. Such a flight will cost 2.573 billion rubles per person, which is approximately comparable in cost to the Blue Origin travel program.

 

But it would help if you did not immediately end the dream of flying into space - such a trip can be won in the lottery. For example, Sian Proctor, a 52-year-old entrepreneur, and geologist grabbed such a prize. She won a charity competition funded by Jared Isaacman, a pilot, astronaut, and billionaire.

 

The high cost of travel is a thorn in the side of Musk and Bezos regularly.

 

For example, the head of Blue Origin spent almost $ 5 billion for 4 minutes in zero gravity during the flight. According to estimates by the international human rights organization Global Citizen, with this money, 2 billion people could be vaccinated, or 40 million could be helped with food.

 

But the wave of criticism does not end there. As it turned out, space flights are an excellent way to get rid of paying taxes since American taxation still poorly regulates private space flights.

 

In previous years, billionaires either paid no income tax at all or did so at a reduced rate of 16%, according to one investigative journalism report. For most Americans, a progressive taxation system works, where citizens pay from 10 to 37%, depending on their annual income. It is not difficult to guess what rate the two wealthiest people on the planet should have.

 

Even though attempts to make space more accessible have not yet been crowned with much success, it is good to see that every year this industry attracts more and more influential players who spend vast amounts of money on the development of science and technology.