Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, said he will be flying to space next month alongside his brother, Mark Bezos on the rocket ship made by his rocket company, Blue Origin. He revealed this in an Instagram post earlier today.
The rocket company is also auctioning off a passenger seat on the New Shepard, a suborbital spacecraft. According to the company, bidding has reached almost $3 million with close to 6,000 participants from 143 countries. The bidding will conclude with a live online auction on June 10, 2021.
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The winner of the auction will fly with the Bezos brothers on July 20, which is the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The flight is set to carry six passengers on a short trip to the edge of outer space.
“To see the earth from space, it changes you, it changes your relationship with this planet, with humanity. It’s one earth. I want to go on this flight because it’s the thing I’ve wanted to do all my life. It’s an adventure. It’s a big deal for me,” said Jeff Bezos.
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Blue Origin has been flight testing New Shepard and its redundant safety systems since 2012. The program has had 15 successful consecutive missions including three successful escape tests, showing the crew escape system can activate safely in any phase of a flight.
The winning bid amount will be donated to Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, whose mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and to help invent the future of life in space.
If you’ve got it, flaunt it. What else is money meant for apart from spending it.