How much would you pay for space travel? For at least one person, the answer is $28 million, a large sum paid in a live auction Saturday for a seat on the first human spaceflight for Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space company.
The author said Christian Devenport At report published newspaper “Washington Post” ( Washingtonpost ) The US company stated that will not be announced identity winner for two weeks; This has led to growing speculation about the identity of the mysterious bidder. Is he a tech entrepreneur, a wealthy foreigner, or someone who wants to be a government-backed astronaut who will be the first to fly from his home country into space? Read also Palestinian NASA engineer Louay Al-Basiouni reveals to Al-Jazeera Net the details of his participation in the Mars helicopter project Imperfect representation even on the moon… How many women were named after its craters, and who are they? The first in the Arab world… A Jordanian scientist studies the behavior of bacterial samples in space Some foods are prohibited there.. What can an astronaut eat in his spacecraft?
inside capsule
Nearly 7,600 bidders from 159 countries participated in the auction, pushing the price far above what some company officials had expected.
Whoever owns this seat, he will sit inside the “New Shepard” capsule alongside Bezos, his brother Mark and a fourth member of the crew that has not yet been named, as they embark on a quick 10-minute journey to the edge of space.
The flight is scheduled to begin on July 20, which marks the anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon, from the company’s launch site in West Texas.
Blue Origin promises that the flight will allow passengers to see the Earth from a distance, see the dark sky above, and enjoy the curves of the earth. This flight will pave the way for more flights to come, especially as the company begins ramping up commercial services, which will routinely fly customers out of the atmosphere.
Half the cost
Blue Origin moves its New Shepherd capsule to an altitude of about 65 miles, where passengers can then unbuckle their seat belts and experience weightlessness for about 4 minutes. The $28 million is roughly half the cost of what some ordinary citizens pay for a trip to the International Space Station, where they will live and work for about a week before returning home aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.
The writer stated that the money raised in the Blue Origin auction will go to support the company’s Club for the Future Foundation, which encourages future generations to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics “to help invent the future of life in space.”
The auction comes as several companies are working to get a group of private astronauts into space. In fact, Richard Branson Virgin Galactic, , recently completed ‘s Blue Origin’s main competitor in the suborbital space tourism market its third human spaceflight mission.
Branson was supposed to allow another test flight before using the company’s space plane known as “SpaceShipTwo” on his trip, but he had been very excited to reach space for years, and the company allowed him to fly early in an attempt to compete with Bezos.
astronauts’ flights
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has a more powerful rocket called the Falcon 9, has carried out several private astronaut flights as well.
But unlike Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin – which launch their spacecraft on ballistic trajectories where they fly almost straight before falling again – SpaceX sends the Dragon spacecraft to orbit Earth at 17,500 miles per hour. The company has several flights scheduled to send passengers to the International Space Station at a cost of $55 million per seat.
The writer quoted Blue Origin officials that they expect bidders to pay a premium for the seat, and this flight is the company’s first human spaceflight mission after 15 unmanned test flights, and perhaps traveling alongside Bezos was an attractive opportunity for some. The company did not say what it will charge the public for seats once tickets go on sale.
Virgin Galactic had charged $250,000 before sales were halted. When online sales return later this year, they will be more expensive, according to the company.
No specific price has been set, but analysts said they expect the seat to be around $500,000. After the auction, Blue Origin said it would start contacting contestants to sign them up for future trips as well.