Person Who Paid $28M to Fly to Space with Jeff Bezos Backs Out For a Shocking Reason: Meet the Very Young Substitute
Jeff Bezos' first trip to space now reported having the youngest and oldest people ever to take flight, as the initial person who paid $28 million backed out.
The first-ever paying customer of Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rocket firm, Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old, will be the youngest person in space.
Bezos and Daemen will join Wally Funk, the oldest aviator who will visit the space. The Amazon founder and his brother Mark will make up the rest of the passengers on the "New Shepard" rocket, per Independent UK.
Bidding Winner Busy?
More than a month ago, Blue Origin announced that the auction for a seat on the trip to space had finished at $28 million. But the rocket company announced that the customer, who remained anonymous, will be unable to come as the time of launch approaches.
Their official site announced the official winner of the auction "chosen to fly on a future New Shepard mission due to scheduling conflicts."
Daemen was chosen for the flight as the substitute. However, it was not announced how much he paid for the flight. Blue Origin mentioned that the trip to space would "fulfill a lifelong dream for Oliver," as the 18-year-old took his gap year as he obtained his private license before starting his studies at the University of Utrecht this September 2021.
The company also announced that the "Club for the Future," a non-profit foundation, has given $1 million each to 19 different organizations working on projects that support "the future of living and working in space."
"We thank the auction winner for their generous support of Club for the Future and are honored to welcome Oliver to fly with us on New Shepard," said Bob Smith, CEO of Blue Origin.
READ ALSO: Jeff Bezos' Record-Breaking First Crewed Flight To Break One Space Tradition [DETAILS]
'New Shepard' To Fly On July 20
Jeff Bezos, Oliver Daemen, Wally Funk, and Mark Bezos will come together on July 20.
The four passengers will be taking a short flight up to space before coming back down to the ground. Blue Origin has argued that it will be the first commercial spaceflight of this kind because Richard Branson's trip last week does not truly count as they criticized "Virgin Galactic" for its "smaller windows."
According to this article, July 20 will be the 52nd anniversary of the 1969 Apollo moon landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. And earlier this week, the Federal Aviation Administration approved the flight.
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