That's the winning bid for a seat aboard the New Shepard, when Jeff Bezos' space tourism venture Blue Origin flies people to space for the first time

$28M is winning bid for seat aboard Blue Origin's 1st human space flight

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2021-06-13 02:30:07

That's the winning bid for a seat aboard the New Shepard, when Jeff Bezos' space tourism venture Blue Origin flies people to space for the first time next month.

The winning bid will be donated to Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, which inspires future generations to pursue careers in STEM.

Saturday's live auction follows five weeks of online bidding. By the time registration closed Thursday for the live auction, nearly 7,600 people from 159 countries registered to bid on a seat aboard the July 20 flight, Blue Origin said. Pre-auction bidding ended at $4.8 million.

The name of the winner won't be announced immediately because the company needs to "complete some final paperwork with them," Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin's director of astronaut and orbital sales, said ahead of the live auction.

"Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space," the Amazon founder said in a social media post. "On July 20, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend."