Actually, next to Jeff Bezos, a person who paid $ 28 million for the ticket was supposed to fly into space. But she now has “scheduling problems”.
Texas – When Amazon founder and space entrepreneur Jeff Bezos climbs into the space capsule of his “New Shepard” rocket on the 52nd anniversary of the first moon landing (July 20, 2021), he will be accompanied by three people. Bezos’ brother Mark is there, as is the aviation pioneer Wally Funk, who thus becomes the oldest person in space. It is now also known who will be the fourth person on board the Blue Origin capsule: Oliver Daemen.
However, he is not the unknown person who offered $ 28 million at auction for the first flight of the Bezos capsule. This person has asked to remain anonymous, according to a statement from Blue Origin. She only wanted to be there on a later mission – because of “scheduling problems”. This will benefit Oliver Daemen, a high school graduate who will be studying physics and innovation management at Utrecht University from autumn, as announced by Blue Origin. It is unclear whether the 18-year-old also took part in the auction and whether and what he will pay for his flight into space.
Blue Origin: Jeff Bezos takes oldest astronaut and youngest astronaut into space
“Oliver represents a new generation of people who will help us pave the way into space,” said Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith. The flight with the “New Shepard” rocket will fulfill a lifelong dream of Daemen. With 82-year-old Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, Jeff Bezos will accompany the oldest female and the youngest astronaut into space.
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On the way into space, Bezos had beaten his competitor, the billionaire Richard Branson. The founder of Virgin Galactic flew last Sunday (July 11th, 2021) on board the “VSS Unity” spaceplane at an altitude of around 85 kilometers. This altitude is recognized by the US Federal Aviation Administration as space (the limit for the FAA is 80 kilometers), while the internationally recognized boundary to space is the Kármán Line at an altitude of 100 kilometers. The space capsule from Blue Origin is supposed to fly over this limit and enable the passengers: Inside, several minutes of weightlessness before the capsule falls back to earth and lands in the desert, braked by parachutes. The Branson spaceplane, on the other hand, had landed on the inside like an airplane on a runway after the first flight with passengers.
Blue Origin’s “New Shepard” rocket is scheduled to take off on July 20, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. (CEST) in western Texas and land again a few minutes later. (tab)
