(Blue Origin)
Blue Origin has announced that it will launch its first New Shepard rocket with people on board on July 20, with one of the passenger seats being auctioned.
Previously, the company conducted 15 tests, but none of them had people in the capsule.
The New Shepard is a small, single-stage rocket designed for short suborbital tourist flights outside the Earth's atmosphere.
During the flight, the stage with the passenger capsule takes off to an altitude of several tens of kilometers, after which the capsule separates and briefly crosses the Karman line.
For several minutes, the passengers in the capsule are in zero gravity and can observe the Earth's surface from the windows, after which the vehicle begins to descend and lands on parachutes.
In parallel, the rocket descends, and makes a jet landing. Both, rocket and capsule can be reused.
The New Shepard first flew in 2015: the capsule took off to an altitude of 93.5 kilometers, and the booster crashed on landing.
The second flight was successful: the capsule crossed the Karman line, and the rocket safely landed back on the launch pad.
After that, over the course of several years, the company conducted more than ten more tests, but never launched humans into space, despite a promise to do so back in 2017.
In mid-April 2021, Blue Origin conducted regular tests and before them for the first time tested the crew landing in the capsule before the flight.
As a result, the flight took place again in unmanned mode, but the company completed an important stage of pre-flight preparation.
Now Blue Origin has announced that it is ready for the first sending of people into space, which will take place on July 20.
Most of the six passenger seats, apparently, will go to testers or employees from the company.
But Blue Origin decided to sell one ticket to a third party, and not at a fixed price, but at an auction.
The auction will take place on the company's website in three stages:
From May 5 to May 19, it will be held behind closed doors: anyone who wants to can bet any amount, but will not see the bets of others.
From May 19, the rates will become visible and for a new rate it will be necessary to exceed the amount of the previous one.
And on June 12, the company will hold the final broadcast, which will determine the winner and the future first suborbital space tourist.
The final ticket price will go to Club for the Future, a non-profit organization that Blue Origin founded in 2019 to engage children and adolescents in the study of engineering and business in space.
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