Jeff Bezos has confirmed his immediate retirement plans after he steps down as CEO of Amazon at the start of July.
Watch live: Jeff Bezos takes Blue Origin to space
Tune into the live webcast in West Texas, US, to watch Bezos take the first-ever human flight to space right here:
Jeff Bezos set to launch into space with brother
The billionaire will board the world’s first crewed flight to space, in a rocket ship made by his aerospace engineering company Blue Origin.
In a statement released on Instagram, Bezos confirmed that the voyage out of planet Earth is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 20 July 2021 exactly two weeks after he’s stepped down from his role as chief executive of his global retail business.
“Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of travelling to space. On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend,” he wrote.
It seems the 57-year-old magnate is leading the line in testing the limits of commercial space travel, a next-generation transit industry that every billionaire is pursuing.
Bezos leads the line in pioneering commercial space travel
Elon Musk, a renewable energy mastermind, and the next richest person in the world after Bezos, is hot on the heels of opening space travel to the world with SpaceX and even he was late to the party.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has similar ambitions. However, all these mega-billionaires have not been as agile as Bezos, who according to the latest statistics, has an estimated net worth of R2.5 trillion ($187 billion).
Blue Origin’s first crewed flight will be attempted on the company’s six-seater capsule named New Shepard. The rocket ship is expected to traverse 96km above Earth, in a span of 11 minutes.
The success of this exhibition flight, with Bezos — the head of Blue Origin — on board, is expected to have a rippling impact on the space company’s valuation, bringing it closer to launching its commercial plans.
Here’s how much a seat aboard New Shepard will cost
Already, an auction is underway for seats inside Blue Origin’s New Shepard. While ticket prices for a seat are not yet determined, the latest bid for the first seat on board the rocket ship set for take-off in July is currently placed at R37.8 million ($2.8 million).
According to Blue Origin, the winning bid amount will be donated to Club for the Future, the company’s foundation that aims to “inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and help invent the future of life in space.”
