Jeff Bezos is going to space! One seat is still available, though, so you have a chance to join the Amazon CEO and his brother Mark riding the suborbital rocket New Shepard on July 20. Sign-up for the 11-minute flight outside Earth's atmosphere by following these steps.
As USA Today reported, Bezos will leave his post as Amazon CEO on July 5. He said that he would "focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives." Shortly after, Jeff posted on his Instagram a one-minute video on his goals of joining his Blue Origin's first human space flight.
Blue Origin Human Flight; New Shepard Space Capsule
In these last few months, the privately funded aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin finally opened to the public one seat to their New Shepard Space Capsule.
New Shepard is a reusable, suborbital spaceship designed to carry six people to space. These people will be riding a capsule on top of a 60-foot rocket, where they would be launched to space. The capsule is designed to experience a parabolic flight pattern, including launch and descent. The full details of the flight, along with its trajectory, are available in this article.
Riding the capsule will give you an opportunity to fly to space and experience approximately 11 minutes of zero gravity before gently landing back on Earth!
Space Flight Online Ticket Auction
The seat is open to the public because Blue Origin has a long-term plan to make New Shepard a tourist destination. They plan to make your trip memorable by "selling artificial gravity." Unfortunately, since seats are limited, the first seat for space flight would be sold through bidding.
Blue Origin is holding an auction for the seat on New Shepard. The auction comes in three phases: A sealed online bidding (May 5-10), Unsealed online bidding (May 19-June 10), and live auction (June 12).
At the time of writing, the current bid stands at $3,500,000. You can still put your bid by heading to their website.
On the chance that you could win the bid, you will be given the seat to join New Shepard on July 20 as its first astronaut crew sent in space!
Where to Watch and More Details
As the first mission of New Shepard, July 20 would be a date to make history. Unfortunately, no other updates have been given for the live streaming for New Shepard through official channels.
However, the event would certainly be covered through new networks across the world. So keep an eye on the date and your local news provider for more information.
You could also try following Blue Origin Twitter account for live updates or Blue Origin YouTube channel for video teasers. Cnet Highlights also cover the Blue Origin and New Shepard trial flights in the past.
This article will automatically update any new information on Blue Origin and New Shepard flights.
