- General
- July 13, 2018
- 4 minutes read
Jeff Bezos’ Spaceflight company Blue Origin could charge at least $200,000 for space trips
image credit : Blue Origin According to a new report from news firm Reuters, Aerospace company Blue Origin notably owned…
image credit : Blue Origin
According to a new report from news firm Reuters, Aerospace company Blue Origin notably owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos might be planning to charge between $200.000 – $300,000 per space trip on its New Shepard space vehicle which will take customers to Sub-orbital space where 6 people in the suborbital system will get to experience weightlessness and catch a good glimpse of Earth’s orbit and curvature before being parachuted down back to earth.
Reuters says the reported price comes from 2 people familiar with the company’s plans.
Blue Origin’s space vehicle is notably re-usable and is designed to autonomously ferry passengers into space through the assistance of its New Glenn orbital launch vehicle with the company having made over 10 test flights with many of them being successful.
Blue Origin plans to start selling commercial tickets for its spaceflights next year and has been testing its space vehicles and suborbital system regularly in recent times, Although the successful tests involved the use of test dummies, According to the Reuters report, A first test which will see humans on the space vehicle is coming “within weeks,” with several safety measures taken which include the use of a system to propel the crew to safety in case of an accident.
image credit : Blue Origin
Another notable space company involved in space tourism is Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic program which although hasn’t began real flights yet has sold a total of 650 tickets costing $250,000 to various buyers.
Several people who got tickets include renowned (now late) Physicist Stephen Hawking who accepted a free honorary ticket from Virgin in a bid to fulfill his dream of going into space and raising awareness for humanity’s vital mission to explore the universe along with celebrity and major tech investor Ashton Kutcher, Superstar actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Justin Bieber and the Facebook saga and Bitcoin Billionaire brother duo Winklevoss twins who of course purchased the ticket using Bitcoin.
Several other major technology names are known to have visited the ISS (International Space Station) having paid a hefty fee amounting to millions of dollars and gone through adequate training with several of them including Microsoft Billionaire Charles Simonyi and Ubuntu founder and Billionaire South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth.
