{"id":17515,"date":"2021-07-20T22:09:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T14:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/blue-origins-suborbital-space-ticket-sales-are-nearing-100m-jeff-bezos-says\/"},"modified":"2021-07-20T22:09:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T14:09:53","slug":"blue-origins-suborbital-space-ticket-sales-are-nearing-100m-jeff-bezos-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/blue-origins-suborbital-space-ticket-sales-are-nearing-100m-jeff-bezos-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin\u2019s suborbital space ticket sales are nearing $100M, Jeff Bezos says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Oliver Daemen, Mark Bezos and Jeff Bezos listen to their New Shepard crewmate, Wally Funk, describe their suborbital space trip. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VAN HORN, Texas \u2014 Blue Origin hasn\u2019t yet revealed how much it\u2019s charging for suborbital space trips, but founder Jeff Bezos said his space venture has already brought in nearly $100 million in private sales.<\/p>\n

And those sales were made even before today\u2019s first crewed flight of Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard rocket ship, with Bezos and three crewmates on board.<\/p>\n

The first big step in Blue Origin\u2019s sales effort was last month\u2019s auction for an open seat on today\u2019s flight. A yet-to-be-identified bidder won the reservation at a price of $28 million, but Blue Origin said the bidder had to defer that reservation due to a scheduling conflict. That\u2019s how 18-year-old Oliver Daemen wound up flying today. He became the world\u2019s youngest spacefarer in the process.<\/p>\n

After the auction, Blue Origin executives contacted some of the bidders who lost out in the auction to offer seats on follow-up flights.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing we found out through the auction process, and what we\u2019ve been doing as private sales \u2014 we\u2019re approaching $100 million in private sales already, and the demand is very, very high,\u201d he said during a post-landing briefing at Blue Origin\u2019s West Texas spaceport.<\/p>\n

Bezos hinted that Blue Origin would continue with the private-sales approach. \u201cWe\u2019re going to keep after that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Blue Origin\u2019s first suborbital space crew does a photo op in front of the New Shepard rocket booster that lifted them skyward and then flew itself back to a landing. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The fact that the asking price is still largely a mystery is unusual. Launch providers and their customers are typically loath to talk about price tags, but estimates leak out nevertheless.<\/p>\n

For example, the price for an orbital trip to the International Space Station in SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon capsule is thought to be around $55 million, and Virgin Galactic was charging suborbital space passengers $250,000 before sales were suspended several years ago.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin would have to charge significantly more than $250,000 to approach $100 million in sales so quickly.<\/p>\n

Bezos said two more crewed New Shepard flights are due to go up by the end of the year. \u201cWhat we do in the following year, I\u2019m not sure yet,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll figure that out.\u201d In any case, he aims to set a speedy cadence and build more rocket ships.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not only adventure \u2026 but it\u2019s also important, because what we\u2019re doing is the first step of something big,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I know what that feels like. I did it almost three decades ago with Amazon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bezos stepped back from his CEO role at Amazon earlier this month, and today he acknowledged that he\u2019d use some of the time that\u2019s been freed up to concentrate on Blue Origin. \u201cI\u2019m going to split my time between Blue Origin and the Bezos Earth Fund,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Bezos Earth Fund is about climate change and sustainability \u2026 and there\u2019s going to be a third thing, and maybe a fourth thing, but I don\u2019t know what those are yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Crew
Oliver Daemen and Mark Bezos pass objects around in zero-G while Wally Funk floats up toward the New Shepard capsule\u2019s ceiling. (Blue Origin Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before today\u2019s launch, Bezos noted that many astronauts said they felt a change in perspective when they looked at Earth from space. After the landing, the world\u2019s richest individual said he could feel the change as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most profound piece of it for me was looking out at the Earth, and looking at Earth\u2019s atmosphere from space,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody who\u2019s been up in space, they say this: that it changes them when they look at it, and they\u2019re amazed and awestruck by the Earth and its beauty \u2014 but also by its fragility. And I can vouch for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s news briefing was chock-full of ceremony and celebration, including Bezos\u2019 announcement of a new $100 million prize program called the Courage and Civility Award. Two of the awards were handed out onstage, to political commentator Van Jones and chef\/philanthropist Jose Andres.<\/p>\n

Here are other highlights from today\u2019s wide-ranging news briefing:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Pin
The custom-designed pins that were given to today\u2019s spacefliers incorporate an A-shaped set of wings, a Blue Origin feather and a tiny blue sapphire. (Blue Origin Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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  • All four spacefliers were awarded custom-designed pins that are meant to serve as Blue Origin\u2019s equivalent of astronaut wings. The pins incorporate the company\u2019s feather logo, wings that take the shape of the letter A, and a tiny blue sapphire representing Earth.<\/li>\n
  • Among the VIPs at the gathering were two daughters of the late NASA astronaut Alan Shepard, who made a milestone suborbital spaceflight in 1961 and served as the namesake for the New Shepard spaceship.<\/li>\n
  • During his flight, Bezos wore a necklace with a Blue Origin feather pendant \u2014 and at the briefing, he gave the necklace to his mother, Jacklyn Bezos.<\/li>\n
  • A piece of fabric from the 1903 Wright Flyer, a golden medallion commemorating the first balloon flight in 1783, and the aviator glasses that pioneering pilot Amelia Earhart wore during her solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1932 were among the mementos flown on New Shepard. Bezos went so far as to model the glasses. Turning to one of his crewmates, female aviation pioneer Wally Funk, Bezos said, \u201cI like to think that if Amelia were here, she\u2019d be very, very proud of Wally.\u201d<\/li>\n
  • Wally Funk, who is now the world\u2019s oldest spaceflier at the age of 82, stole the show with her enthusiastic review of the ride. \u201cI want to go again, fast!\u201d she said. All four of the fliers, including Jeff\u2019s brother Mark, could be seen doing zero-G gymnastics in a video released by Blue Origin. We\u2019ve teed up that footage in the YouTube video link below:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n