Amazon billionaire founder Jeff Bezos said that he and his brother Mark will make the first manned space flight from their Blue Origin Rocket Company next month. “From the age of five, I have dreamed of going into space. On July 20, I will embark on that journey with my brother”, Bezos, one of the richest people in the world, said in an Instagram post.
Bezos will step down as CEO of Amazon on July 5. He will join the winner of Blue Origin’s first space flight seat auction. Bezos, billionaire Elon Musk and Richard Branson have been investing billions of dollars in their rocket startups, but Bezos will be the third of the three. A person who travels to space on a rocket developed by his own company.
The Origin spacecraft, which was originally scheduled to carry Bezos and others, has conducted 15 test flights, but none of them carried passengers.
Blue Origin concluded the first round of auctions last month and stated that it has received more than 5,200 bidders from 136 countries, but did not disclose the highest bid for the round.
Bezos’ rocket launch time is July 20th, and his first suborbital travel journey is a historic moment, aimed at ushering in a new era of private commercial space travel.