Blue Origin to fly thrill seekers to space after two year hiatus

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin is set to fly adventurers to the final frontier on Sunday for the first time in nearly two years, reigniting competition in the space tourism market after a rocket mishap put its crewed operations on hold.

Six people, including sculptor and former Air Force pilot Ed Dwight, who was controversially spurned by NASA's astronaut corps in the 1960s, will blast off at around 8:30 a.m. local time (1330 GMT) from the company's Launch Site One base in west Texas.

Dwight — at 90 years, 8 months and 10 days — is set to become the oldest person to go to space.