Spending more than 640 billion VND to travel to space with the richest billionaire in the world

According to the results of the live auction on June 12, the winner, who has not been identified, spent $28 million (about VND 644 billion) to win a seat on the first space trip. of the New Shepard rocket manufactured by Blue Origin. This person will fly with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark Bezos on the scheduled date of July 20. The identity of the winner will be announced by the company in the coming weeks.

Inside the cabin of the New Shepard rocket. Photo: Blue Origin.

The starting price in yesterday’s auction was $4.8 million. This number quickly surpassed 20 million USD within minutes of the auction opening.

Proceeds from this auction will be donated to the non-profit educational organization Club for the Future, which supports children with an interest in science, technology, engineering and math.

Speaking during the live auction, Blue Origin director Ariane Cornell said New Shepard’s first flight will have four people, including billionaire Bezos, his younger brother, the winner of the June 12 auction. and another to be announced later.

Each New Shepard space tourism flight will last nearly 11 minutes, taking passengers to an altitude of more than 100km and entering suborbital space. At that time, passengers will experience the feeling of zero gravity. The rocket’s cabin can accommodate six people at once and does not require a pilot.

Mr. Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 and raised capital for the company from selling Amazon stock.