Bezos will be flying to space on the first crewed flight of the New Shepard. New Shepard is the rocket ship made by his space company, Blue Origin. “I’m interested in space because I’m passionate about it,” Bezos said during an interview with the CEO of Axel Springer. “I’ve been studying it and thinking about it since I was a five year old boy, but that is not why I’m pursuing this work. I’m pursuing this work because I believe if we don’t, we will eventually end up with a civilization of stasis, which I find very demoralizing.” The flight is scheduled for July 20th, just 15 days after he is set to resign as CEO of Amazon.
Blue Origin said Bezos’ younger brother, Mark Bezos, will also join the flight. “Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space,” Bezos said in a Monday morning Instagram post. “On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend.”
If all goes according to plan, Bezos will be the first of the billionaire space tycoons to experience a ride aboard the rocket technology that he’s poured millions into developing. Bezos is the world’s richest person with a net worth of $187 billion. Not even Elon Musk, whose SpaceX builds rockets powerful enough to enter orbit around Earth, has announced plans to travel to space aboard. British billionaire Richard Branson’s own space company Virgin Galactic is planning on conducting flights to suborbital space for ultra-wealthy thrill seekers and competing directly with Blue Origin. Branson has long said he would be among the first passengers aboard Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered plane, but that flight is expected to take place later in 2021. After six years of extensive and often secretive testing of the rocket and capsule, called New Shepard, Blue Origin announced in May that it was preparing to put the first passengers in a New Shepard capsule.
