WASHINGTON – Civillians hoping to join astronauts on the July 20 inaugural flight of the New Shepard rocket system have the next two weeks to bid for a single open seat in the spacecraft, US aerospace company Blue Origin said yesterday.
"We are offering one seat on this first flight to the winning bidder of Blue Origin’s online auction. Starting today, anyone can place an opening bid by going to BlueOrigin.com," Sputnik quoted the company, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, as saying in a press release.
Until May 19, the company is accepting bids, with the release saying, "you can bid any amount you want on the auction website (no bids are visible)."
In June, a subsequent live auction for the empty seat will accept bids higher than the top amount offered in the initial round, the release said.
New Shepard is a vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing system created by Blue Origin for suborbital space tourism. The rocket booster is designed to jettison a crew capsule – designed for up to six people in which it reaches a height of more than 60 miles and lingers in zero-gravity space for several minutes before returning to Earth for a parachute-enabled landing.
July 20 will mark the first flight of New Shepard with humans, although the system has previously flown in multiple uncrewed tests, according to Blue Origin. – Bernama, The Vibes, May 6, 2021
