[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] A ticket to travel to space with Jeff Bezos, CEO of e-commerce company Amazon and space exploration company Blue Origin, was sold for $28 million (approximately 31.26 billion KRW).
On the 12th (local time), Blue Origin announced that the seat on its first space tourism rocket, 'New Shepard,' to travel to space with Bezos was auctioned off at this price, CNBC reported.
New Shepard is scheduled to make its first manned spaceflight on the 20th of next month from Texas, USA, carrying Bezos, his younger brother Mark, and the auction winner. This day also marks the 52nd anniversary of Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing spacecraft, touching down on the moon.
The identity of the winning bidder has not been disclosed but is expected to be revealed within a few weeks, Blue Origin said.
The auction, conducted by phone, started at $4.8 million but quickly surpassed $20 million within 4 minutes as about 7,600 people from 159 countries competed, closing after 7 minutes. The proceeds from the ticket sale will be donated to Blue Origin’s education-related nonprofit organization, 'Club for the Future.'
New Shepard carries a space travel capsule with passengers to an altitude of about 100 km. Although it has successfully completed more than ten unmanned test flights, this will be its first manned flight.
Operated by an autonomous navigation system, it is designed to carry up to six passengers. The capsule is equipped with large windows, allowing passengers to look down at Earth during approximately 3 minutes of weightlessness while floating in space, CNBC reported.
New Shepard is expected to carry a total of four passengers this time. The remaining one passenger will be announced later.
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