Jeff Bezos’ rocket company, Blue Origin recently announced its first paying customer, Oliver Daemen, who at 18 years old will also be the youngest person to travel to space. Oliver will join Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, and Wally Funk aboard the New Shepard rocket on July 20.
While Daemen becomes the youngest astronaut breaking the record set by the Soviet cosmonaut Ghermon Titov, who was 25 when he flew into orbit, Funk, 82, will become the oldest astronaut to travel to space breaking the age record set by the astronaut and Senator John Glenn, who travelled back to space in 1998 at the age of 77.
Flying on New Shepard will fulfill a lifelong dream for Oliver, who has been fascinated by space, the Moon, and rockets since he was four. Oliver graduated from high school in 2020 and took a gap year before continuing his studies to obtain his private pilot’s license.
In a tweet, Oliver Daemen said: “I am super excited to be going to space and joining” Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, and Wally Funk on the first Blue Origin crewed flight.
Daemen’s auction was paid for by his dad, Joe Daemen, who is CEO of Somerset Capital Partners.
Bob Smith, CEO of Blue Origin said, “We thank the auction winner for their generous support of Club for the Future and are honoured to welcome Oliver to fly with us on New Shepard. This marks the beginning of commercial operations for New Shepard, and Oliver represents a new generation of people who will help us build a road to space.”
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The Federal Aviation Administration approved the launch just a day after British Billionaire, Richard Branson flew to the edge of space aboard a rocket-powered vehicle developed by his own company, Virgin Galactic.
Virgin Galactic also plans to start flying commercially to space with customers paying up to $250,000 for tickets.
