World’s richest man completes mission in space

WASHINGTON: Jeff Bezos fulfilled his longtime dream of going into space Tuesday and potentially opening a door to space tourism -- possibly the next mission for the man who built one of Earth’s biggest business empires.

The Amazon founder spent a few minutes in space on reusable rocket built by his firm Blue Origin as part of a four-member crew, in a small step toward his stated goal of building floating space colonies.

The journey comes just two weeks after he stepped aside as chief executive of Amazon, which grew from a garage startup into one of the world’s most formidable businesses. Bezos, 57, remains executive chair at the technology and e-commerce colossus he founded 27 years ago. He founded Blue Origin in 2000.