Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Company Auctioning Ticket For Trip On New Shepard Rocket

The Jeff Bezos backed aerospace company Blue Origin is auctioning a seat on its New Shepard rocket to the highest bidder.

On July 20th, New Shepard will make its first voyage containing an astronaut crew into space and is offering one seat to a member of the public. The capsule, which is designed for six people, can travel at a speed of Mach 3.

The sub-orbital flight will take passengers 62 miles above the planet’s surface and allow them to experience three minutes of weightlessness and view the Earth’s curved horizon.

“This seat will change how you see the world,” the company said in a statement.

The auction will happen in three phases. Bidding for a seat on the New Shepard began on Wednesday and will continue until May 19. During that period, participants can bid any amount of money they want and no other bids will be visible.

After that, bids will become visible and those interested in continuing the auction will have to exceed the highest bid. The final day for bidding will be on June 12, with a live auction.

The value of the winning bid will be donated to the Blue Origin foundation Club for the Future. The organization encourages future generations to explore careers in STEM and assist in inventing the future of life in space.

Test flights on the New Shepard in 2016. Since December of that following year, the spacecraft has completed six successful tests. The last test flight took place on April 14 and included personnel entering and exiting the capsule as a dry run for the human flight.

However, none of the staff members were on board when the New Shepard was launched into space.