US space tourist Glen de Vries dies in plane crash

US space tourist
A few weeks ago, Glen de Vries flew into space, now he died in a plane crash

Mourning for US entrepreneur and space tourist Glen de Vries

© Patrick T. Fallon / AFP

In October, the US entrepreneur Glen de Vries flew into space together with “Captain Kirk” actor William Shatner. Now the space tourist has died in a plane crash.

One month after his flight into space alongside “Star Trek” actor William Shatner, US space tourist Glen de Vries was killed in a plane crash. A small plane with the 49-year-old on board crashed almost one hundred kilometers west of New York in the community of Hampton Township in the US state of New Jersey, the police said on Friday.

In the accident that occurred on Thursday, two people died. The US aviation authority FAA began the investigation into the crash.

Ten minutes in space

On October 13, De Vries flew into space with the 90-year-old “Captain Kirk” actor Shatner and two other space tourists on a rocket from the private space company Blue Origin owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The group had made a ten-minute excursion into space aboard the “New Shepard” missile system and had climbed to an altitude of about 107 kilometers.

Blue Origin was shaken on Friday by the death of the founder of a software company focused on clinical trials. “We are devastated by the sudden death of Glen de Vries,” said the company in the short message service Twitter. “He brought so much life and energy to the entire Blue Origin team and the rest of the crew.”

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