A few days ago, someone paid $28 million in an auction for the luxury of s into space with Blue Origin. Finally, this anonymous passenger will not be able to participate in this flight. He just bequeathed his ticket to an 18-year-old Dutch student.
The first commercial flight of the New Shapard launcher, developed by Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin, is scheduled for July 20 , 52 years after Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. For this inauguration, Jeff Bezos himself will be there with his brother, Mark Bezos and aviator Wally Funk. At 82, she will then become the oldest woman to fly into space.
Beside was to stand an anonymous passenger who paid no less than 28 million dollars at an auction to buy the last available seat. Unfortunately, he or she had to postpone this flight for professional reasons (schedule conflicts), according to a statement from Blue Origin.
It is finally Oliver Daemen, the son of the managing director of a private equity investment company and one of the finalists of the auction, who will take his square. This 18-year-old Dutch student will become the youngest person to have ever been in space .
Mr. Daemen, who will start new studies in the fall at the University of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, obviously did not hide his enthusiasm. "It's a dream come true! “, he said in a press release from the family. “I hadn't counted on this at all until last week this surprising phone call from Blue Origin came. It's incredibly cool! This flight to and through space only takes ten minutes, but I already know these will be the most special ten minutes of my life “.
Blue Origin did not reveal how much Daemen paid for this ticket , even if the Dutch family assures that the price remains well below the winning bid of 28 million dollars. In addition, the money from this ticket will be donated by Blue Origin to a charity that has not yet been determined.
On Wednesday, Blue Origin also announced that 19 of the $28 million of the winning bid will go to 19 space-related nonprofits (one million each).
