Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos Heading To Space On July 20 – With His Brother, Mark Bezos!

Jeff Bezos is ready to leave Earth.

The founder of the tech giant Amazon will be one of the passengers aboard the spacecraft New Shepherd for its maiden voyage outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Bezos, thanks to his space company Blue Origin, will be the first of the billionaires to experience space travel, before Elon Musk‘s SpaceX and Richard Branson‘s Virgin Galactic.

After years of secrecy, Blue Origin announced New Shepherd’s scheduled flight in May. The company is also still running an auction for a seat aboard the craft. The bidding has already reached around $2.8 million and garnered interest from over 6,000 individuals across 143 countries. The proceeds from the highest bid will be donated to Club for the Future, Blue Origin’s foundation that encourages STEM careers. Their goal is “to help invent the future of life in space.”

Bezos also posted a video on Instagram revealing that he had asked his brother, Mark Bezos, to go on the craft with him. “Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space,” he said. “On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend. #GradatimFerociter”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CP0MSOqnYEo/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again

According to Blue Origin’s website, the ship is fully autonomous and will have no pilot on board. There are six seats for passengers. New Shepherd will have 11-minute trips into space and “was designed to take astronauts and research payloads past the Kármán line — the internationally recognized boundary of space.”

The flight is expected to take place on July 20, five days after Bezos’ resignation as Amazon’s CEO goes into effect.