Beginning of this month Blue Origin announced an auction for the first seat on their New Shepard flight in July. Today marked the ending of blind bidding and the minimum price for the seat has been announced, and it’s a lot.
New Shepard, Blue Origin’s space tourism rocket launches from Van Horne, Texas straight up just above the Kármán Line. This line is what the international community recognizes where space begins. Once the capsule reaches this point it starts to fall back down to the ground.
On the 60th anniversary of Alan Shepard’s flight, the astronaut the rocket is named after, Jeff Bezos’ company announced an auction to choose the first seat winner. This auction would benefit Blue Origin’s foundation Club for the Future and has three parts. The first part, a sealed bidding process, ended today.
Blue Origin’s Bidding process
In the first section, bidders could bid any amount above $50 but now, if they wish to continue, they must match the highest bid. That amount currently is $2.8 million dollars, officially making this trip only available to the richest of space enthusiasts. Bidders have till June 10th to match or raise the highest bid to continue on to a live auction.
The winner of the live auction moves on to fly on Blue Origin’s first crewed flight on July 20th, probably at the price that could get them a seat on an orbital flight.
Highest Bid Timeline
June 10th 4:58 PM EDT: $4.8 million (Final price for this phase of the auction)
June 10th 3:55 PM EDT: $4.5 million
June 10th 2:50 PM EDT: $4.2 million
June 10th 7:52 AM EDT: $4 million
June 8th 3:29 PM EDT: $3.8 million
June 8th 8:07 AM EDT: $3.5 million
June 7th 12:35 PM EDT: $3.2 million
May 19th 6:60 PM EDT: $2.8 million
May 19th 1:16 PM EDT: $2.6 million
May 19th 11:55 AM EDT: $2.4 million
May 19th 10:46 AM EDT: $2.2 million
May 19th 9:50 AM EDT: $2 million
Want to help support Space Explored?
Shop on Amazon to support Space Explored writers.
Enjoy reading Space Explored?
Help others find us by following on Apple News and Google News. Be sure to check us out on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, join our Discord!
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments