The First Paying Passenger Of The New Shepard Space Ship

Blue Origin’s Blue Shepard ship, the New Shepard, has already received its first passenger. It will be taking Jeff Bezos (and his brother Mark) into space on July 20. The company released a statement Thursday stating that Oliver Daemen would be the first paying customer to fly on the New Shepard. This marks the beginning of commercial operations for this program.

Wally Funk, an 82 year-old pilot, and his brothers Bezos will join him. Daemen, who is just 18 years old and Funk, who is 82, will be the oldest and youngest astronauts to reach space.

Daemen wasn’t the only person interested in filling the fourth seat on the New Shepard. The auction winner for the Blue Origin trip, who requested anonymity for now has chosen to fly on a future mission because of scheduling conflicts. He paid around 28 million dollars for his seats, which is more than $23 millions.

Blue Origin explains in its note that the company was able to donate one million dollars to 19 non-profits this week (19 million total). All of these organizations support life in space and the future.

Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said, “We thank the auction winning for his generous support of Club for the Future” This marks the start of New Shepard’s business operations. Oliver represents a new generation which will help us create a path to space.

Blue Origin explains that flying in the New Shepard will be a fulfilling of a childhood dream for this young man who was fascinated by space and the Moon from the age 4. Daemen graduated from the institute in 2020 and has been on a sabbatical for one year to finish his pilot’s licensing studies. He plans to attend the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands to study Physics and Management of Innovation. If everything goes according to plan you’ll be able say you know what it feels like to see space through your own eyes if all goes well.