Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced Monday on Instagram that he will be flying to space on the first crewed flight of New Shepard, the rocket ship built by his space travel company Blue Origin. Joining him on the July 20th flight will be his brother, Mark, and two others, one of which is the winner of a charity auction that will be announced later this month. The winning bid, $28 million, will be donated to Blue Origin's foundation, Club for the Future, to help inspire future generations to invent the future of life in space.
The fully autonomous flight will last only about 10 minutes and return to Earth via a parachute landing. New Shepard will travel past the Kármán Line, a border 62 miles above the Earth’s surface that’s generally considered where the atmosphere ends, and space begins. Like SpaceX, the company’s vision is to ultimately lower the cost of launches and kickstart space tourism. Bezos said it had been his dream to go to space since he was five years old.
