Jeff Bezos back on earth after 10-min flight to space on Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft

The founder of Blue Origin was accompanied by brother Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and 18-year-old passenger Oliver Daemen.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos blasted off Blue Origin's New Shepard flight on Tuesday from its Launch Site One in a remote location in the West Texas desert in the United States. The founder of Blue Origin was accompanied by brother Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and 18-year-old passenger Oliver Daemen.

The mission marked another milestone in the space race started by private companies. It was the first time in the history of a commercial company launching a privately funded and built spacecraft from a private launch range with astronauts on board.

Billionaire Richard Branson, who recently went into space aboard his Virgin Galactic's rocket ship, congratulated Blue Origin crew on their achievement. "Well done @blueorigin, @jeffbezos, Mark, Wally and Oliver. Impressive! Very best to all the crew from me and all the team at @virgingalactic," Branson tweeted.