Oliver Daemen, Youngest Astronaut Candidate To Fly With Jeff Bezos

JAKARTA - An 18-year-old Dutchman will soon become the world's youngest astronaut. He will also be the first paying space tourist on a US commercial space flight, Blue Origin. This information was immediately announced by Jeff Bezos, Thursday, July 16.

Oliver Daemen, a physics student, will join a space flight at New Shepard with Bezos. He flew in after his father who placed second and the winning bidder for $28 million was suspended for the next flight.

Oliver is the son of financier Joes Daemen, founder and CEO of Dutch private equity firm Somerset Capital Partners, who paid for the seat and chose to relinquish to Oliver instead.

Blue Origin said Oliver got a seat on the flight on July 20 after the winning bidder, who asked not to be named, decided to fly on a future New Shepard mission, due to an undisclosed scheduling conflict.

"I'm so excited to go into space," Oliver said in a video message. "I've been dreaming of this my whole life and I'll be the youngest astronaut because I'm 18. I'm so excited to experience zero G."

According to Blue Origin, Oliver will technically be the 'first paying customer', who will fly to the edge of space, alongside Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, aviation pioneer Mary Wallace 'Wally' Funk and two other passengers.

The company said Oliver "has been fascinated by space, the Moon and rockets since he was four years old".

A Blue Origin spokesperson told DailyMail.com that they did not disclose the price paid for Oliver's seat, but confirmed that he participated in the auction beforehand.

"He was a participant in the auction and has secured a seat on the second flight," the spokesperson said by email. 'We moved it when this seat on the first flight became available.”

Oliver is currently in Texas, where the launch will take place on Tuesday, July 20.

"At 18 and 82 years old, Oliver Daemen and Wally Funk represent the youngest and oldest astronauts to travel into space," Blue Origin said in a statement.

GeekWire reports that Oliver graduated from high school last year and took a gap year before continuing to study to take up his private pilot license in Spain. He will also have a degree in physics and innovation management at the University of Utrecht in September.

Pictures on Oliver's Instagram account show him having quite the challenging sporting activities such as surfing, diving and wakeboarding, as well as posing with Dutch DJ Martin Garrix and Belgian-Dutch Formula One driver Max Verstappen.

Oliver's mother, Eline Daemen Dekker, is an ambassador at the Somerset Capital Partners Foundation and a volunteer with a program to combat loneliness among older people. He previously worked as a cabin crew for KLM for five years.