American billionaire Jeff Bezos announced today, Monday, that he will fly on board the first passenger flight for his company, “Blue Origin”, which it plans to launch on July 20.
“I want to go on this trip, because it’s the thing I’ve wanted to do all my life,” the richest man in the world said, via a video clip posted on his account on the “Instagram” platform.
He will bring his brother Mark, as well as the person who will win the auction that will be held for a seat. The highest bid was $2.8 million as of Monday morning, five days before the auction closed, according to CNBC.
For his part, Mark Bezos said in the video: “I wasn’t even expecting him to be on the first flight. What a great opportunity, not just to take this adventure but to do it with my best friend.”
Blue Origin’s space tourism system is a capsule carrying a capsule to the edge of outer space, and has previously flown in more than 12 successful test flights without passengers, known as the “New Shepherd”.
Designed to carry up to 6 people on a journey through space, the capsules on previous test flights have reached an altitude of more than 340,000 feet (more than 100 kilometers).
The capsule has huge windows to give passengers a chance to view outer space closely, and passengers can spend a few minutes in zero gravity before returning directly to Earth.