Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to fly to space on Blue Origin's first human spaceflight

Amazon's billionaire founder Jeff Bezos on Monday announced that he will be flying to space along with his brother on the first crewed flight of the New Shepard, the rocket ship made by his space company, Blue Origin next month.

The flight is scheduled for July 20, just a couple of weeks after Bezos plans to resign as Amazon's CEO. The date also marks the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

The information about his space travel was shared through Bezos' Instagram post that ended with Blue Origin's Latin motto, Gradatim Ferociter - which the company translates as "step by step ferociously."

"Ever since I was five years old, I`ve dreamed of traveling to space. On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother," Bezos, who is one of the richest people in the world, said in the post.

Blue Origin announced that Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark will join the auction winner on New Shepard's first human flight on July 20. Auction bidding is already at USD 2.8 million with nearly 6,000 participants from 143 countries.

Bidding is underway now at BlueOrigin.com and will conclude with a live online auction on June 12. The winning bidder will fly to space on New Shepard's first human flight on July 20.

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, said an official release.

Bezos isn't alone in spending some of his enormous wealth on space exploration. Elon Musk's SpaceX Crew Dragon now regularly carries astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

And in May, a test flight by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic reached an altitude of 55 miles, marking its third human spaceflight. But neither Musk nor Branson has traveled to space yet in their companies' aircraft. Bezos will be the first of the three to actually travel into space on a rocket developed by his own company.

Source : DNA India