An unknown bidder has spent $28 million (£20 million) for a seat on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin company’s first space mission.
Blue Origin tweeted that the unknown bidder’s name will be disclosed in the following weeks after this winning offer was placed during Saturday’s auction.
Over 140 nations expressed interest in the bidding process.
Mr. Bezos’ brother Mark and an unknown space traveler make up the rest of the crew for the voyage on July 20.
The highest price had been just under $5 million after a nearly month-long bidding war, but once Saturday’s online auction began, it had risen by more than five times.
“The winning bid amount will be donated to Blue Origin’s foundation, @ClubforFuture,” Blue Origin tweeted.
According to Forbes magazine, Mr. Bezos is valued at $186.2 billion (£131.5 billion). As a result, he is one of the wealthiest persons on the planet
Jeff Bezos, the millionaire creator of Amazon, said earlier this month that he and his brother Mark will go in space for the first time next month using their rocket company Blue Origin.
“Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space. On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother,” Bezos, who is one of the richest people in the world, said in an Instagram post.
Bezos, who is set to leave Amazon on July 5, will join the winner of an auction for a ticket on Blue Origin’s first space trip.
Bezos, fellow billionaire Elon Musk, and Richard Branson have all invested billions of dollars in their rocket companies, but Bezos will be the first of the three to journey into space on his own rocket.
The Blue Origin spaceship, which will transport Bezos and others, has completed 15 test flights, none of which included passengers.
Last month, Blue Origin said that it had received more than 5,200 bids from 136 nations in the first round of the auction, but did not reveal the top amount.
According to Blue Origin’s website, the current top offer in the ongoing second round of the auction was $2.8 million.
Its New Shepard rocket-and-capsule combination is designed to fly six passengers more than 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth into suborbital space, high enough to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the planet’s curvature before the pressurized capsule returns to Earth under parachutes.
According to Blue Origin, the capsule has six view windows and is roughly three times as big as those on a Boeing 747 aircraft, making it the biggest ever used in space.
Bezos’ rocket company plans to launch its first suborbital sightseeing mission on July 20, a watershed moment in a race to usher in a new age of private commercial space travel.
According to Reuters in 2018, the business planned to charge passengers at least $200,000 for the voyage, based on an analysis of competitor proposals from Branson’s Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc and other factors, although its intentions may have altered.
When it comes to addressing risks associated with space flight, global insurers are still in the early phases. Life insurance either doesn’t inquire about space tourism or doesn’t cover it.
“You will sign this waiver of liability and provided there’s no gross negligence or willful misconduct if you don’t survive, unfortunately, there’s probably no financial recovery,” said Richard Parker of Assure Space, a unit of insurer AmTrust Financial.
