Blue Origin launch - live: Latest updates as Jeff Bezos and his spacecraft get ready for first trip

Blue Origin

(Blue Origin)

Jeff Bezos and three fellow passengers are about to make a pioneering journey into space.

The trip will see the space tourists take a brief trip off the Earth before coming back down again.

Mr Bezos has promoted the trip as a breakthrough moment for space tourism, which arguably represents the first time that paying, civilian passengers have been sent to space on board a private rocket. It is also the first time that humans have ever ridden on board a spacecraft made by the Amazon founder’s private space company, Blue Origin.

But at the same time, the trip has been criticised by many as an indulgence, with the billionaire spending money and other resources that could be better used to improve life on Earth.

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The launch window is set to open at 1pm UK time, or 9am eastern, and you can follow all of the latest updates here.