Amazon billionaire founder Jeff Bezos said Monday that he and his brother Mark will make the first space flight with the Blue Origin crew next month.
“Since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space. On July 20, I will go on this trip with my brother,” Bezos. One of the world’s richest people, said in an Instagram post.
Bezos, who will step down as head of Amazon on July 5. He will join the winning bidder for a seat on Blue Origin’s first space flight.
Bezos, his billionaire Elon Musk and Richard Branson are investing billions of dollars in their rocket launch company. But Bezos will be the first of three to actually go into space on a rocket his own company developed.
The Blue Origin spacecraft, which suppose to carry Bezos and others, went through 15 test flights. None of which had passengers on board.
The Blue Origin crew flight will see the company’s six-seat capsule and a 59-foot-tall rocket streaking toward the edge of space. It will be reaching more than 100 kilometers above Earth, in an 11-minute flight.
After six years of extensive and often veiled testing of New Shepard missiles and capsules, Blue Origin announced in May that it prepare to place the first passengers in the New Shepard capsule.
The Bezos brothers will fly to the edge of space in the Blue Origin New Shepard multi-missile. The booster enclosed in a teardrop shaped capsule with a lid that offers room for six passengers inside and large windows.
Blue Origin’s new Shepard flow many times without humans. But other than the first flight where several boosters were lost. It was a total success on each of these 15 missions, including booster landing (except the first time) and capsule recovery (for all beginning).
The New Shepard rocket did not reach orbit, but instead flew to the edge of space. The passengers could experience several minutes of weightlessness and unparalleled views of Earth through the capsule’s many windows. Before making a parachute landing in Texas near the launch site to return Blue origin.
Blue Origin’s first paid spot auction for current customers value at $2.8 million. It is already in place after prices rose $1.4 million when Blue Origin opened on Tuesday 19.
The final stage of the auction, scheduled for June 12, includes online direct bidding by bidders. Others who will edit their existing bids to match the highest bid.
Global insurance companies just get started to cover space liabilities. Life insurance companies don’t inquire about space travel or exclude it from their coverage.
Read more China Blocks Many Social Media Accounts Related to Cryptocurrency
“You will sign this disclaimer and provided there is no gross negligence or willful misconduct, unfortunately, if you do not survive, there is likely to be no financial recovery,” said Richard Parker of Assure Space, insurance company Am Trust Financial.
It has a very public rivalry with Musk, whose Space X has begun sending astronauts to the International Space Station, and is a competitor to government contacts in space.
