Bids to fly to space with Jeff Bezos just hit $4 million with only 2 days left until the live auction for a seat on Blue Origin's space flight


Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos provides the keynote address at the Air Force Association's Annual Air, Space & Cyber Conference in Oxen Hill, MD, on September 19, 2018.

Bids for a ticket on Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft reached $4 million on Thursday, according to the company's website.

The winner of the auction will fly on the spacecraft with Jeff Bezos and his brother for 11 minutes.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin will hold the final phase of the auction live online on June 12.

Bids for a ticket on Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft reached $4 million on Thursday, according to the company's website.

Jeff Bezos' space firm is auctioning one of six seats on the New Shepard for an 11-minute trip scheduled to blast off on July 20, which is set to be the company's first space tourism flight.

Bezos announced on Monday that he's going to be on the flight with his brother, Mark Bezos.

The highest bid with just two days to go in the auction had reached $4 million on Thursday, the website showed. Insider reported on Monday bidding hit $3.5 million, meaning it's increased by $500,000 in four days.

"Ever since I was five years old, I've dreamed of traveling to space," Bezos posted on Instagram. "On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother."

Blue Origin told Insider that more than 6,000 applicants across 143 countries had bid for the ticket since it launched five weeks ago.

The money raised from the auction will go towards Blue Origin's foundation, Club for the Future, which the company says will contribute towards the development of life in space and inspire future generations to pursue careers in science.

The auction kicked off on May 5 with sealed bids. The final stage of the auction will be held live online on June 12.

The trip in the 60-foot-tall suborbital rocket is scheduled to last 11 minutes, and will take the crew 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the Earth's surface. The launch is set for Launch Site One in Texas.

A maximum of six passengers can fit into the capsule, which sits on the top of the rocket booster. When New Shepard reaches a high altitude, it separates from the booster, reenters the atmosphere, and opens its parachutes for a safe landing.

The most recent successful flight of New Shepard was on April 14, when it carried a crash-test dummy named "Mannequin Skywalker" into space. This was the 15th consecutive test flight of New Shepard without a crew onboard.

Bezos, who founded Blue Origin in 2000, said in a 2018 interview that the company was his "most important work."

Source