Jeff Bezos blasted into space on Tuesday on his rocket company's first flight with people on board. With this, he became the second billionaire in just over a week to ride his own spacecraft.

Back on Earth, spaceflight enthusiasts saw the brief voyage as the realization of decades of promise — the beginning of a new era for space tourism.

“Space tourism is finally here,” said Alan Ladwig, author of the book “See You in Orbit? Our Dream of Spaceflight.” “It’s still going to be expensive; it’s still not going to be something everybody can do right away, but it’s a first step.”

“Best day ever,” Jeff Bezos said after touchdown, greeted by a sea of cheering Blue Origin employees and others at the company's campus.

Also on board were his brother Mark, long time women-in-space advocate Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk, and Oliver Daemen, the de facto winner of an auction for the capsule’s fourth seat. Funk, 82, is the oldest person ever in space. Daemen, 18, is the youngest. The exultant travellers climbed out of the capsule to hugs from family and friends.

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.

Bezos’ suborbital flight — his company Blue Origin’s first crewed launch — came a little over a week after British billionaire Richard Branson along with five others boarded a space plane built by his Virgin Galactic firm and flew to the edge of space and back, making it there ahead of Bezos, who had announced his plans earlier.

Virgin Galactic plans to complete two more test flights before it begins flying paying customers to space next year.

New Shepard, a fully autonomous spacecraft, didn't have any Blue Origin staff astronauts during its maiden human spaceflight.

Image Source: Geeta Images