Amazon.com and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos will soar on the main crewed flight of the Recent Shepard suborbital car, the billionaire announced on Instagram on Monday (June 7).
The flight is scheduled for July 20, the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon touchdown. The Recent Shepard capsule, which operates autonomously and does no longer need a pilot, will originate from Blue Origin’s West Texas facility. The flight will final roughly 11 minutes.
Bezos’ brother, Trace, will seemingly be half of the crew as neatly, the Instagram post infamous. “Ever since I turn into once five years feeble, I’ve dreamed of touring to home,” Bezos wrote. “On July 20th, I will spend that slip with my brother. The superb adventure, with my simplest friend.”
Associated: Blue Origin’s 1st upgraded Recent Shepard for astronauts aces originate (and touchdown)
One more seat on the flight is currently being auctioned off to the top bidder true via a three-round route of that will attain on Saturday (June 12). Bids ranking already reached $2.8 million, per the company; the successful sum will drag to the company’s science and technology outreach foundation, Club for the Future.
The Recent Shepard car can tackle six passengers.
Blue Origin’s main competitor in suborbital tourism flights, Virgin Galactic, is moreover making strides toward flying its first paying buyer. Its car, the piloted VSS Team spirit home aircraft, has flown a pair of cases, alongside side once with the company’s chief astronaut as a passenger.
Most no longer too lengthy within the past, Virgin Galactic has offered tickets at $250,000, and in May per chance perchance perchance well merely, a company describe indicated it turn into once focused on a industrial flight as soon as next twelve months.
Blue Origin’s fully reusable Recent Shepard machine has flown 15 cases true via uncrewed assessments. During presumably the latest flight, in April, company staff rehearsed the entrance and exit contrivance, a milestone upfront of next month’s crewed flight.
“It is an adventure,” Bezos mentioned in a video posted with the announcement. “It is a gargantuan deal for me.”
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