JAKARTA - Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos's billionaire rocket company, announced on May 6 that the first suborbital sightseeing trip with the New Shepard spacecraft is targeted to be realized on July 20.
The moment became important, considering the competition to usher in a new era of personal commercial space travel, which later became an increasingly intense competition.
Blue Origin also said it would offer one seat on the first flight to the winner of the five-week online auction, whose proceeds from the sale will be donated to the space company's foundation.
The New Shepard rocket-and-capsule combo is designed to independently fly six passengers more than 62 miles (100 km) above Earth into suborbital space. High enough to experience a few minutes without weights, looking at the curvature of planet Earth, before the capsule pressurized back to earth by parachute.
The capsule has six observation windows, which According to Blue Origin are nearly three times higher than those on Boeing 747 jets and the largest ever used in space.
"The view will be spectacular", Blue Origin Astronaut Sales Director Ariane Cornell said at a press conference, as reported by Reuters.
After its first flight in July, Cornell said Blue Origin will have several more manned flights before the end of the year. However, he declined to reveal details of ticket prices, which have been a closely guarded secret within the company for years.
Reuters reported in 2018 that Blue Origin charged passengers at least $ 200,000 for the trip, based on an assessment of a rival plan from Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., owned by billionaire Richard Branson and other considerations, though his thinking may have changed.
Wednesday's announcement follows years of testing and development work that included delays. Cornell said Blue Origin would be happy to increase the frequency of its tourist space flights.
Blue Origin also wants to add a launch location, likely outside the United States, depending on demand. As for the launch in July, the reusable New Shepard booster will launch and land in West Texas.
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Celebrities and the rich seem to be the core market for space tourism, at least at the outset. Cornell told reporters the candidates most likely to be very clear on Blue Origin's radar are both categories.
"Only 569 people have ever been to space. We're going to change it dramatically", he said confidently.
But he declined to say when or if Jeff Bezos, a lifelong space enthusiast and currently the richest man in the world, would travel in New Shepard.
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