Blue Origin also said it will offer one seat on the first flight to the winning bidder of a five-week online auction, the proceeds of which will be donated to the space firm’s foundation.
Reuters
May 06, 2021 / 08:03 AM IST
Blue Origin_New Shepard rocket (Image: AP)
Blue Origin, billionaire Jeff Bezos’ rocket company, said on Wednesday it is targeting July 20 for its first suborbital sightseeing trip on its New Shepard spacecraft, a landmark moment in a competition to usher in a new era of private commercial space travel.
Blue Origin also said it will offer one seat on the first flight to the winning bidder of a five-week online auction, the proceeds of which will be donated to the space firm’s foundation.
The New Shepard rocket-and-capsule combo is designed to autonomously fly six passengers more than 62 miles (100 km) above Earth into suborbital space, high enough to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of the planet before the pressurized capsule returns to earth under parachutes.
The capsule features six observation windows Blue Origin says are nearly three times as tall as those on a Boeing 747 jetliner and the largest ever used in space.
“The view will be spectacular,” Blue Origin’s Director of Astronaut Sales, Ariane Cornell, told a media briefing.
After its first flight in July, Cornell said Blue Origin would have “a couple more” crewed flights before the end of the year. She declined to disclose details of the ticket price, which has been a closely guarded secret inside the company for years.
Reuters reported in 2018 that Blue Origin was planning to charge passengers at least $ 200,000 for the ride, based on an appraisal of rival plans from billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc and other considerations, though its thinking may have changed.
Wednesday’s announcement follows years of testing and development work that has included delays.
Cornell said Blue Origin would “love” to increase the frequency of its tourist spaceflights and add launch locations, possibly outside the United States, depending on demand. For July’s flight, the reusable New Shepard booster will launch and land in West Texas.
