Jeffrey P. Bezos space company said Tuesday it is a step closer to taking tourists into suborbital space where they would have the rare chance to experience weightlessness and glimpse the Earth from more than 60 miles away.

Executives from Blue Origin, based in Kent Washington, said they had reached a significant milestone with one of its rocket engines and would begin test flights with the company'sreusable New Shepard spacecraft later this year.

In a statement, Bezos, the founder of amazon.com who also owns The Washington Post, said the engine, known as the BE-3, had undergone rigorous testing and soon well put it to the ultimate test of flight. It wouldbe the first hydrogen engine developed in the U.S. in more than a decade.

In a call with reporters, Blue Origin President Rob Meyerson declined to say when exactly that flight would take place, but that it would be later this year. The companys New Shepard capsule can carry three or more astronauts and scientific payloads, he said.

Flights to suborbital space would last between 10 and 15 minutes, he said. But the company still has a long way to go, he cautioned, saying there would be a lot of testing before the company flies test pilots and eventually customers, a prospect that is still years away.

Bezos is among a new vanguard of ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs who have turned their interest in space into businesses. Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic is also working to fly tourists into space. And Elon Musks SpaceX has contracts with NASA to fly cargo, and eventually astronauts, to the International Space Station.

Blue Origin was also chosen to develop an engine forUnited Launch Alliance,ajoint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. That engine, the BE-4, would be more powerful than the BE-3.

Like Musk, who wants to colonize Mars, Meyerson said Blue Origins has a long-term vision to extend humankind beyond our planet.

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Billionaires in space: Jeff Bezos company to launch test flight this year