London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 31, 2025

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to auction ticket for first space tourism flight

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to auction ticket for first space tourism flight

Blue Origin - after spending more than six years developing its space tourism rocket, New Shepard - has finally set a date for its first commercial passenger mission, July 20, and announced that one of the first passengers will be the winner of an online auction.

Anyone can place a bid on the company's website, according to a tweet posted Wednesday morning. The first round of bidding will run from May 5 to 19, and the bids will be sealed, meaning nobody will be able to see how much other people offered. An unsealed round of bidding will begin May 19, and finally a live auction on June 12 will conclude the contest.

The proceeds from the auction will be donated to Club for the Future, a youth-focused foundation meant to inspire kids to study science and technology.
It's not clear how much the ticket is expected to fetch, nor did Blue Origin say who else will be on the first flight or how much they paid for their seats. The auctioned seat will be the only seat for sale to the public on this first flight, with the other seats filled by those selected by Blue Origin.

According to the company's website, there are a few limitations on who can take a New Shepard flight: Everyone must be 18 years or older, be in good enough physical shape to climb seven flights of stairs in a minute and a half, be between 5'0" and 6'4" in height and between 110 pounds and 223 pounds in weight. Passengers must also be able to fasten and unfasten their seat harness in less than 15 seconds, spend up to an hour and a half strapped into the capsule with the hatch closed, and withstand up to 5.5G in force during descent.

Blue Origin was founded 21 years ago by Amazon billionaire, and the world's richest person, Jeff Bezos. New Shepard, a fully autonomous spacecraft that can carry up to six people, has taken more than a dozen automated test flights with the cabin empty at Blue Origin's facilities in Texas, nearly all of which have gone as expected.

New Shepard consists of two reusable pieces — a small, dome-shaped capsule with gaping rectangular windows, and a 60-foot-tall rocket booster that blasts the capsule at up to three times the speed of sound as it hurtles toward outer space.

The capsule is designed to detach from the rocket near its peak, climbing more than 60 miles high and spending a few minutes suspended in weightlessness before parachuting back to Earth. All told, future passengers will spend a total of about 10 minutes in the air and climb to more than 60 miles above Earth.

Blue Origin's ticket prices have been the subject of speculation for years. Meanwhile, Blue Origin's direct competitor, Virgin Galactic — the suborbital space tourism company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson in 2004 — has long been pre-selling tickets. The company has a backlog of more than 600 people who will fork over between $200,000 and $250,000 each for a ride to space. (Virgin Galactic has twice conducted test flights to space, and after many delays, the company now states it has several more test flights to conduct before it will fly paying customers.)

Blue Origin named its spacecraft for Alan Shepard, who became the first American to travel into space 60 years ago.

"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," the company said in an email announcing its auction. (The Kármán Line is the altitude that is internationally considered the boundary to space. It's 100 km or about 62 miles).

After a "meticulous and incremental flight program to test" New Shepard, the email said, "it's time for astronauts to climb onboard."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
×