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'Bez Lightyear': Jeff Bezos jokes and memes flood social media before Blue Origin space launch

Jeff Bezos took an 11-minute suborbital flight aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard

Social media was inundated with jokes and memes as billionaire Jeff Bezos prepared to blast off into space aboard his company Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft.

The Amazon founder, 57, took flight from Texas alongside his brother Mark, Dutch teenager Oliver Daemen, 18, and former NASA trainee Wally Funk, 82, who became the oldest person in space. Meanwhile, Daemen became the youngest to visit space at 18 and Bezos the richest with his staggering $203 billion fortune. This was Blue Origin's first crewed flight which took off from 'Launch Site One' in Van Horn, Texas, and was live streamed at 9 am EDT.

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"I'm excited," Bezos told CBS' 'This Morning' on Monday, July 19. "People keep asking me if I'm nervous. I'm not really nervous. I'm excited. I'm curious. I want to know what we're going to learn. We've been training. This vehicle's ready. This crew is ready. This team is amazing. We just feel really good about it," he added. In light of the Amazon mogul's space expedition, a number of people shared jokes and memes on social media.

"Jeff Bezos is going to the edge of space Tuesday. Will the rocket bring him back home, or will it drop him at the wrong house and then say their records show he's been delivered?" comedian-actress Bette Midler tweeted.

"Send Jeff Bezos via Prime same-day delivery," entrepreneur Karma Bhutia quipped in response to a tweet from Amazon's official account wishing the crew the best of luck ahead of their historic space-flight. "If nobody goes with Bez Lightyear for Jeff Bezos in the headlines later I'll be disappointed," The Yorkshire Post editor James Mitchinson chimed in.

There were also several penis jokes at the rocketship's expense. "All this news attention pointed at Jeff Bezos this morning, and not one mentions everything he touches ends up overtly phallic?" actor Ethan Embry wrote.

"How you have a rocket-shaped like a penis and called Blue Origin and not expect people to make blue balls jokes," another wrote. "I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the rocket Bezos will be flying not only looks like a giant penis but also has Blue in its name. #BlueOrigin #BezosYouDontHaveToWorkBlue," a third suggested.

Some mocked Bezos for his choice of footwear and using a box to stand on in a bid to appear taller. "Jeff Bezos is 5'7" and he's standing on a box while everyone else sits, kneels, or backgrounds so he appears taller," Graham Starr, an editor of Business Insider, wrote. "They put Jeff in the 'city boy running for office as a republican' boots," comedian Caleb Hearon added.

Others demanded the billionaire pay more taxes. "As soon as Jeff Bezos takes off tomorrow for space, Congress should pass a billionaires earth re-entry tax," Melanie D'Arrigo, a Democrat running for Congress in New York's 3rd District, suggested.

Bezos' space expedition is set to take place nine days after Virgin Group founder Richard Branson completed his suborbital flight on his Virgin Galactic rocket ship. The Amazon founder is hoping to fly 62 miles further into space than his space tourism rival.