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Airfare for a short space trip with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was sold at auction for $28 million next month.
Blue Origin stated that the bidding process began in early May and attracted bids from more than 7,000 participants from 159 countries. Before the live auction, which was broadcast live on Saturday, the price was $4.8 million.
Blue Origin said that the identity of the winning bidder has not been disclosed, but will be announced in the next few weeks.
No matter who it is, it will travel with three other passengers, including Bezos and his brother Mark. The company said that the “fourth and last” passenger will be announced soon.
It takes about 10 minutes from launch to landing, of which about 3 minutes will be spent in a zero-gravity environment. This trip will cost the winning bidder more than $9 million per minute in space.
The winning bid will be donated to the “Future Club” of Blue Origin’s foundation focusing on STEM education projects.
The launch is scheduled to be held in Texas on July 20, 15 days after Bezos will step down as CEO of Amazon.
A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on whether Bezos’ time as executive chairman is related to his wish to participate in this trip, which will be the company’s first trip that includes human passengers.
“Since I was five years old, I have dreamed of traveling in space,” Bezos said in a post on Instagram last week.
“On July 20th, I will embark on that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend.”
To date, the New Shepard capsule has conducted 15 test flights. Except for the first time the rocket crashed in April 2015, but the capsule returned to Earth safely, everything else was a success.
If successful, the New Shepard capsule travel will be the first commercial space flight to take civilians beyond the Carmen Line, which is the internationally recognized edge of space and is more than 60 miles from the Earth.
However, according to reports, Blue Origin’s schedule prompted Virgin Galactic, a competing space travel company founded by Sir Richard Branson, to rush to advance its plans.
“Focus on this space…” Merchant Wrote in a recent tweet. The company held Successfully tested last month.
So far, Blue Origin’s funding has come entirely from the funds raised by Bezos selling its Amazon stock. The company has not announced any details about future travel pricing-but said it will contact the “most competitive” bidders. Interested in upcoming flights.
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