Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will fly to space in July on the first crewed flight of the New Shepard, the rocket ship made by his space company Blue Origin. The flight is scheduled for July 20. The Amazon founder will also be accompanied by his brother and "best friend" Mark Bezos.
"Ever since I was five years old, I've dreamed of traveling to space," Bezos, 57, said in an Instagram post as he announced the space trip. "On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend."
Interestingly, Jeff Bezos is taking his space trip only 15 days after he is set to resign as CEO of Amazon. As he announced that he was handing over the baton to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Jeff Bezos had stated that he was planning to focus on Blue Origin.
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In May, Blue Origin had announced that it would be launching its first crew of humans to the edge of space on July 20 aboard the suborbital space tourism rocket, New Shepard. One seat aboard that flight will be auctioned off to support its Club for the Future foundation. According to news agency Reuters, Blue Origin disclosed that the current highest bid for a seat on its New Shepard spacecraft was $2.4 million in the ongoing second round of auction.
A statement on the company's website reads: "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 flight.