Auctioned a "ticket" for the space flight scheduled for July 20. Price? 28 million dollars for the first mission of the company Blue Origin
A mini vacation in space is expensive, but it will surely be worth it for the still unknown winner of the auction that will win a place on the New Shepard spacecraft departing on July 20 with Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark. The "ticket" was sold at a cost of $28 million. After a month since the opening of bids, the sale was concluded on June 12. The Blue Origin company's mission is the first with non-astronauts on board and could kick off the company's space tourism business.
The auction and the space flight with Jeff Bezos
The New Shepard's flight will be very short, lasting about 11 minutes, and on board will be space company founder Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark and another passenger. For a few more weeks, the identity of the auction winner will remain a secret because, as Blue Origin sales director Ariane Cornell said, "we still need to complete some final paperwork."
The auction was held at a facility in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by RR Auction. Dozens of telephone operators gathered in a room to represent 20 bidders with a starting price of less than $5 million, $4.8 to be exact. In less than 10 minutes, the auction floor reached the $28 million mark. Proceeds from the sale will go to the Blue Origin Club For The Future nonprofit charity. The auctioneer also reportedly uttered the phrase, "The more you pay for it, the more fun you'll have."
The New Shepard spacecraft is a reusable rocket just over 18 feet tall with a teardrop-shaped capsule and six seats. The roughly 10-minute mission gives passengers a microgravity viewing experience of plus or minus three minutes. Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder who will step down as CEO next month, announced on June 7 that he will go on the mission with his brother Mark to fulfill a lifelong dream.
The $28 million price tag for the suborbital trip is about half the cost for a seat on an orbital mission. Next up, SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, which has carried only government astronauts to the International Space Station, will launch its first private astronaut mission into orbit later this year, with four passengers spending about three days in orbit.
Stefania Bernardini