This unnamed bidder paid ₹ 205 crores for a seat on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin spaceflight

An unnamed bidder on June 12 paid $28 million at auction for a seat on board first crewed spaceflight of Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin on July 20. According to a press release, winning bidder, whose identity will be disclosed in coming weeks, will now join Jeff Bezos and his bror Mark and will fly to space on New Shepard’s first human flight next month. winner beat out some 20 participants in an auction launched in late May and wrapped up with a 10-minute online bidding frenzy, live cast by Blue Origin. 

Blue Origin is targeting July 20 for its first suborbital sightseeing trip on its spacecraft, a landmark moment in a competition to usher in a new era of private commercial space travel. trip will last a total of ten minutes, four of which passengers will spend above Karman line that marks recognised boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space. New Shepard is designed to carry as many as six people at a time on a ride past edge of space. capsule has massive windows to give passengers a view, spending a few minutes in zero gravity before returning to Earth.

company has yet to fly New Shepard with passengers on board. However, till now it has successfully carried out 15 uncrewed tests runs launching from its facility in Gualupe Mountains of West Texas. rocket launches vertically, with booster detaching and returning to land at a concrete p nearby. capsule, on or hand, floats back to surface with three large parachutes that slow it down to about a mile an hour when it lands.

Jeff Bezos & bror Mark going to space

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Jeff Bezos announced that he will be boarding New Shepard. Announcing his flight to space, Bezos in an Instagram post said that it was his dream to travel to space ever since he was five years old. Bezos' younger bror Mark will also join first crewed flight of Blue Origin's New Shepard. 

If journey is successful, Jeff Bezos could be world's richest person (with an estimated net worth of $187 billion) and first billionaire to have hopped on a rocket ship, even outdoing his rival Elon Musk and his ambitious plans in race to space. Notably, Musk has been at forefront of exploring life outside Earth, as is his SpaceX has become predominant space vehicle-maker, pioneering re-usable rockets and also making big waves in its quest to 'colonise Mars' in next few years. 

(Image: AP)