This is how much a mystery bidder paid for a seat to space trip with Jeff Bezos - Mint

A bidder paid $28 million at auction for a seat alongside Jeff Bezos on board the first crewed spaceflight of the Blue Origin next month.

"Today, Blue Origin concluded the online auction for the very first seat on New Shepard with a winning bid of $28 million. Nearly 7,600 people registered to bid from 159 countries, "Blue Origin said on its website.

"The name of the auction winner will be released in the weeks following the auction’s conclusion. Then, the fourth and final crew member will be announced – stay tuned," tweeted Blue Origin following the sale.

The name of the auction winner will be released in the weeks following the auction’s conclusion. Then, the fourth and final crew member will be announced – stay tuned.

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) June 12, 2021

The winning bidder will fly to space on New Shepard’s first human flight on July 20 and will join Blue Origin founder, Jeff Bezos, and his brother, Mark.

The Amazon founder revealed this week that both he and his brother Mark would take seats onboard the company's New Shepard launch vehicle on July 20, to fly to the edge of space and back.

This space trip will come after Jeff Bezos will step down as Amazon CEO on July 5 and hand over the baton to Andy Jassy. “We chose that date because it's sentimental for me," Bezos had said during an Amazon shareholder meeting. He explained that it was exactly 27 years ago on that date in 1994 that Amazon was incorporated.

Meanwhile, according to the company, the winning bid amount will be donated to Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, whose mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and to help invent the future of life in space.

Taking off from a desert in western Texas, the New Shepard trip will last 10 minutes, four of which passengers will spend above the Karman line that marks the recognized boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space.

Blue Origin's New Shepard has successfully carried out more than a dozen uncrewed test runs from its facility in Texas' Guadalupe Mountains.

-With inputs from AFP

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This is how much a mystery bidder paid for a seat to space trip with Jeff Bezos - Mint
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