New Shepard reusable booster design has undergone a series of test flights.
Credit: Blue Origin/Screengrab Inside Outer Space

On July 20th, Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle will fly its first astronaut crew to space.

That announcement from the group backed by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos also adds: “We are offering one seat on this first flight to the winning bidder of Blue Origin’s online auction. Starting today, anyone can place an opening bid by going to BlueOrigin.com.”

“This seat will change how you see the world.”

Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin.
Credit: Blue Origin

Auction phases

Details of the three-phase auction are:

May 5-19: Sealed online bidding – you can bid any amount you want on the auction website (no bids are visible) 

May 19: Unsealed online bidding – bidding becomes visible and participants must exceed the highest bid to continue in the auction

June 12: Live auction – the bidding concludes with a live online auction

Blue Origin’s crew capsule – a suborbital six-seater craft.
Credit: Blue Origin

Club for the Future

The winning bid amount will be donated to Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, “to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and help invent the future of life in space,” according to a Blue Origin statement.

The communiqué from Blue Origin also notes:

“On this day 60 years ago, Alan Shepard made history by becoming the first American to fly to space. In the decades since, fewer than 600 astronauts have been to space above the Kármán Line to see the borderless Earth and the thin limb of our atmosphere. They all say this experience changes them.”  

Alan Shepard’s liftoff strapped into Freedom 7 Mercury capsule on May 5, 1961.
Credit: NASA

Blue Origin explains that they named their launch vehicle after Alan Shepard to honor his historic flight.

New Shepard has flown 15 successful consecutive missions to space and back above the Kármán Line “through a meticulous and incremental flight program to test its multiple redundant safety systems. Now, it’s time for astronauts to climb onboard,” explains the firm’s statement.

For more information, go to:

https://www.blueorigin.com/

Leave a Reply