Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Tuesday, Jul 22, 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

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
Iran's Parliament Votes to Suspend Cooperation with Nuclear Watchdog
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
Explosions Rock Doha as Iranian Missiles Target Qatar
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Oman Set to Introduce Personal Income Tax, First in Gulf
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Iran Intensifies Crackdown on Alleged Mossad Operatives After Sabotage Claims
Trump Praises Iran’s ‘Very Weak’ Response After U.S. Strikes and Presses Israel to Pursue Peace
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
G7 Leaders Fail to Reach Consensus on Key Global Issues
Mass exodus in Tehran as millions try to flee following Trump’s evacuation order
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
×