NEW YORK- This will be Blue Origin’s first ever human flight. Jeff Bezos and his brother will be joined abroad by a winner of an ongoing auction.
Amazon Inc. founder-CEO Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark Bezos will fly to space next month on the first space flight launched by his space exploration company Blue Origin. The Blue Origin New Shepard spacecraft is scheduled for launch on July 20, the Amazon Inc founder said on Instagram.
“Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space. On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother,” Bezos said in an Instagram post
In a cinematographic short video uploaded on social media, Bezos can be seen asking his brother to accompany him on the flight as both Bezos siblings feature throughout the clip.
“I invited my brother to come on this first flight because we are closest friends,” said Jeff.
“I wasn’t even expecting him to say that he was gonna be on the first flight and then when he asked me to go along, I was just awestruck,” Mark can be heard saying.
“What a remarkable opportunity to not just be able to go on this adventure but to be able to do it with my best friend,” he adds.
The video also features pictures of Bezos’ childhood and an admission from the billionaire of his interest in space.
“To see the Earth from space, it changes you, changes your relationship with this planet, with humanity. It’s one Earth,” Jeff says in the Instagram video.
“I want to go on this flight because it’s a thing I’ve wanted to do all my life. It’s an adventure. It’s a big deal for me.” admits the Amazon founder.
This will be Blue Origin’s first ever human flight. Bezos and his brother will be joined abroad by a winner of an ongoing auction. The auction for the open seat ends on Saturday, and has so far attracted the attention of 6,000 participants from 143 countries. The winning bid currently stands at $2.8 million, and the closing amount will be donated to Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, which aims to inspire younger generations to pursue interests in STEM fields.
Bezos stepped down from Amazon in February of this year to concentrate on Blue Origin amongst other things. Giving competition to Bezos in the domain of private space flight are Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.
