Space Flight Boss: No Bathroom On Board

The boss of a planned space tourism service says there’ll be no toilets or sick bags on the flight. But Jeff Bezos says neither should be needed.

Bezos, who made his fortune from Amazon, now runs Blue Origin. It plans to run flights for six passengers that cross the Karman line that lies around 62 miles above sea level and is generally regarded as the beginning of space.

Promoting the service, Bezos says there’s no need for toilets as the flight will only be 11 minutes, with passengers boarding the craft around 30 minutes before it takes off.

He also downplayed the risks of a technicolor yawn, saying that it’s multiple arcs into and out of zero gravity that prompt immediate extreme motion sickness. He says that on the type of flight Blue Origin will offer, it would take several hours before the vomiting occurred.

There’ll be two days of training and orientation for passengers, covering both the practicalities and etiquette required for the four minutes of the flight where they can unstrap and enjoy weightlessness.

Ticket-prices haven’t been decided yet, but Bezos said he was interested in the idea of running a raffle to give a free trip.