Spaceflight with Jeff Bezos sold for $28 million – Technology

The Amazon founder revealed this week that he and his brother Mark will be aboard the New Shepard on July 20 for a 10-minute trip.

They will be joined by the charity auction winner, whose identity will be revealed in the coming weeks, and a fourth yet-to-be-identified space tourist, according to Blue Origin sales director Ariane Cornell.

The third traveler won about 20 competitors in an auction that began on May 19, the last 10 minutes being broadcast on television.

Proceeds will go to the Blue Origin Club for the Future Foundation, which aims to “inspire future generations to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.”

New Shepard will take off from a desert in West Texas. The capsule that will carry the passengers will separate from the thruster and will pass the Kerman Line, which has a height of about 100 km, which marks the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and space.

Of the 10-minute journey, the travelers will spend four minutes in space, where they will be able to feel weightlessness and observe the curvature of the Earth as seen from space.

Bezos, who announced earlier this year that he would step down as Amazon CEO to devote more time to other projects, including Blue Origin, said space exploration is a lifelong dream.

Blue Origin has conducted dozens of successful tests with New Shepard, albeit all unmanned, from its facility in the Guadeloupe Mountains in West Texas.

The reusable sub-orbital rocket system is named after Alan Shepard, the first American to reach space 60 years ago.