Jeff Bezos is heading into space with his brother Mark Bezos, aboard the first crewed flight of the New Shepard, the rocket ship from his space company, Blue Origin.
The space trip is scheduled for July 20, 15 days after he is set to resign as the CEO of Amazon.
The Amazon CEO made the announcement through a video shared on his Instagram account.
“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 captioned the video.
“You see the earth from space and it changes you. It changes your relationship with this planet, with humanity. It’s one Earth,” Bezos is heard saying in the video.
“I want to go on this flight because it’s the thing I’ve wanted to do all my life. It’s an adventure. It’s a big deal for me,” he said.
Blue Origin had made the announcement in May that it would be scheduling its first crewed flight on this day, but did not say that Bezos himself would be a part of it.
One seat aboard the flight is being auctioned to support the Club for the Future foundation. Bezos and his brother would be joining the winner of the auction
“Bidding is underway now and concludes with a live online auction on June 12th. Interested bidders must register by June 10th,” tweeted Blue Origin.
The reusable rocket will lift off from Earth. It has a booster topped by a Crew Capsule that can accommodate six passengers inside and large windows, as reported by the Verge. The capsule will detach from the booster once the rocket reaches the Kármán line, 100 km above sea level. This will allow passengers to view the curvature of the earth.
Post this, the booster and capsule will land separately. The capsule will land in the West Texas desert with the help of parachutes.