Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin is Auctioning a Chance to go to Space

Its maiden rocket, the New Shepard will carry six people, and here's a chance to be one among them.

Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, a space company, is putting its first-ever space tourism flight up for auction. The company released a press release that said, "this flight will change how you see the world" and also stated that the winner of the auction will be one among the six people who will ride to space on the New Shepard on July 20.

The auction will be divided into three phases, the first being the sealed bidding on the company's website. People who are interested in space travel can bid on any amount on the company's website. In the next phase, the bidding process will be made public and participants will have to exceed the highest bids to remain in the auction. The first phase of the auction will take place till May 19 and the final auction will be live on June 12 where the winning amount will be donated to the Club for the Future, Blue Origin's foundation.

Qualification Needed For The Space Travel

To be qualified for the "Astronaut Experience", Blue Origin has set a series of requirements. These criteria include the ability to deal with heights, walk-on ragged surfaces, manage up to three times the person's weight, amongst many others. As with any other adventurous experience, the chosen participant will have to fill many waivers and complete Blue Origin's training program.

Blue Origin is yet to release any details about the ticket pricing and other specifications pertaining to the full capacity space tourism that the company has planned. But what is known is that Blue Origin's New Shepard tourism rocket will have competitive prices with other space tourism companies like the Virgin Galactic.

More About Blue Origin's Space Tourism Plan

According to Jeff Bezos's planning, the 11-minute New Shepard space tour will be launched from a 60-foot-high rocket in the West Texas desert. The tourists will experience a sight of space from an altitude of over 340,000 feet. The capsule will have windows for the full space view and will stay afloat in zero gravity for a stipulated amount of time before returning to Earth.

Blue Origin is not the only company that has ventured into space tourism. Another famed company, SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk is a part of this competition. Blue Origin and SpaceX have similar goals of making space travel for common man possible along with creating a future for humanity beyond Earth.

In early 2021, SpaceX beat Blue Origin by acquiring a $2.9 billion NASA contract that would help the company go to the moon. In a feat of competition, Bezos lodged a complaint against SpaceX getting the contract and NASA's decision "flawed" and "unfair". This complaint caused NASA to suspend SpaceX's project till Jeff Bezos's complaint is resolved.