Space flight with Bezos nets 28 million dollars at auction
NEW YORK – A bidder won a seat on the first manned ten-minute space flight in a new capsule from company Blue Origin on Saturday (12) – for the whopping price of US $ 28 million.
Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, who founded Blue Origin, also plans to be on the New Shepard rocket’s flight on July 20.
Four people are scheduled to take their seats in the capsule. Alongside the winner, whose identity will be revealed in the coming weeks, will be Bezos and his brother Mark. The fourth passenger is yet to be decided.
After it launches, the spacecraft is expected to accelerate to more than 3,700 kilometres per hour within two minutes.
After three minutes, weightlessness should set in before the capsule reaches an altitude of more than 100 kilometres above Earth.
For comparison, the International Space Station is some 400 kilometres above Earth’s surface.
After the high-altitude flight, the astronauts will re-enter the earth’s atmosphere and the New Shepard will land in the Texas desert with some assistance from large parachutes to slow it down.
Saturday’s auction started at 4.8 million dollars and quickly broke the 20-million mark.
The final bid of US$ 28 million equates to around US$ 45,000 for every second of flying.
Blue Origin last tested the astronaut capsule in mid-April. It reached an altitude of about 105 kilometres before returning to earth.
The test flight was unmanned – the New Shepard has not yet flown with people on board.
-dpa