Washington, DC – Amazon’s billionaire founder Jeff Bezos said on Monday, he and his brother Mark will fly on the first crewed space flight from his rocket company Blue Origin next month.
Bezos, who is due to step down as Amazon’s chief on July 5, will join the winner of an auction for a seat on the first space flight from Blue Origin.
“Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space,” Bezos, who is one of the richest people in the world, said in an Instagram post. “On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother.”
Bezos, fellow billionaires Elon Musk and Richard Branson have been investing billions of dollars on their rocket start-ups, but Bezos will be the first of the three to actually travel into space on a rocket developed by his own company.
The Blue Origin spacecraft, which is set to carry Bezos and others, has undergone 15 test flights, none of which had any passengers onboard.
Blue Origin closed the first round of the auction last month and said it had received more than 5,200 bidders from 136 countries, without disclosing the highest bid from the round.
(Reuters)
