Seat on Bezos-backed space flight sells for $28 million at auction

[mystery-ak]

Seat on Bezos-backed space flight sells for $28 million at auction
By Celine Castronuovo - 06/12/21 02:46 PM EDT

Blue Origin, the space flight company founded and owned by Jeff Bezos, is giving a seat on its very first human flight next month to an individual who pledged a winning bid of $28 million at an auction Saturday.

The company announced the win on Twitter following the live-streamed auction, which lasted under 10 minutes after opening at $4.9 million with more than 20 bidders participating.

This came after nearly 7,600 people from 159 countries registered to bid on a seat for the July 20 space flight by the time registration closed Thursday, according to ABC News, with pre-auction bidding ending at $4.8 million.

Blue Origin said the $28 million would be donated to Club for the Future, Blue Origin’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to “inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and to help invent the future of life in space,” according to its website.

more
https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/558149-seat-on-bezos-space-flight-sells-for-28-million-at-auction

[mountaineer]

Is that all? I'll take two. 

[mountaineer]

Daily Wire
Richard Branson Beats Jeff Bezos To The Punch: Virgin Galactic To Launch Full Crew Test Flight 9 Days Before Amazon
By  Ian Haworth
Jul 2, 2021

In a move that is sure to infuriate Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Virgin Galactic announced Thursday that it will be conducting its first full crew test flight into space just days before Amazon were set to do the same.

“Virgin Galactic today announced that the flight window for the next rocket-powered test flight of its SpaceShipTwo Unity opens July 11, pending weather and technical checks,” the company announced in a press release. “The ‘Unity 22’ mission will be the twenty-second flight test for VSS Unity and the Company’s fourth crewed spaceflight. It will also be the first to carry a full crew of two pilots and four mission specialists in the cabin, including the Company’s founder, Sir Richard Branson, who will be testing the private astronaut experience.” ...