First seat in New Shepard will be auctioned

Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin wants to bring tourists to space for the first time this summer. Interested parties can bid on a seat. The highest bid now stands at 2.8 million dollars, the company reports.

It is a tourist flight with the New Shepard: a rocket and capsule with space for six people. One of the six seats will be auctioned.

More than 5,200 people from 136 countries bid on a seat during a first round. Initially, $ 2.4 million was the highest bid, but this bidder was outbid in a second round. The second round continues until June 10.

The rocket is designed to take the capsule to an altitude of 100 kilometers above Earth. There, people are weightless for a few minutes and can observe the curvature of the Earth, before the capsule returns on its own to land with the help of parachutes.

Before the space tourists travel with the reusable New Shepard rocket, they first receive a three-day training.