Trip to space with Jeff Bezos sells for $28 million

WASHINGTON - A mystery bidder paid $28 million at auction Saturday for a seat alongside Jeff Bezos on board the first crewed spaceflight of the billionaire's company Blue Origin next month.

The Amazon founder revealed this week that both he and his brother Mark would take seats on board the company's New Shepard launch vehicle on July 20, to fly to the edge of space and back.

The Bezos brothers will be joined by the winner of Saturday's charity auction, whose identity remains unknown, and by a fourth, as yet unnamed space tourist.

"The name of the auction winner will be released in the weeks following the auction's conclusion," tweeted Blue Origin following the sale. 

"Then, the fourth and final crew member will be announced -- stay tuned."

Saturday's successful bidder beat out some 20 rivals in an auction launched on May 19 and wrapped up with a 10-minute, livecast frenzy.

Bidding had reached $4.8 million by Thursday, but shot up spectacularly in the final live auction, rising by million dollar increments.

The proceeds -- aside from a six percent auctioneer's commission -- will go to Blue Origin's foundation, Club for the Future, which aims to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Taking off from a desert in western Texas, the New Shepard trip will last 10 minutes, four of which passengers will spend above the Karman line that marks the recognized boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space.

After lift-off, the capsule separates from its booster, then spends four minutes at an altitude exceeding 60 miles (100 kilometers), during which time those on board experience weightlessness and can observe the curvature of Earth.

The booster lands autonomously on a pad two miles from the launch site, and the capsule floats back to the surface with three large parachutes that slow it down to about a mile per hour when it lands.

LIFELONGD REAM

Bezos, who announced earlier this year he is stepping down as Amazon's chief executive to spend more time on other projects including Blue Origin, has said it was a lifelong dream to fly into space.

Blue Origin's New Shepard has successfully carried out more than a dozen uncrewed test runs from its facility in Texas' Guadalupe Mountains.

"We're ready to fly some astronauts," said Blue Origin's director of astronaut and orbital sales, Ariane Cornell, on Saturday.

The reusable suborbital rocket system was named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space 60 years ago.

The automated capsules with no pilot have six seats with horizontal backrests placed next to large portholes, in a futuristic cabin with swish lighting. Multiple cameras help immortalize the few minutes the space tourists experience weightlessness.

PRIVATE SPACE RACE

Blue Origin's maiden crewed flight comes in a context of fierce competition in the field of private space exploration -- with Elon Musk's SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, all jostling for pole position.

Bezos has a very public rivalry with Musk, whose SpaceX is planning orbital flights that would cost millions of dollars and send people much further into space.

SpaceX has already begun to carry astronauts to the International Space Station and is a competitor for government space contracts.

Virgin Galactic, meanwhile, hopes to begin regular commercial suborbital flights in early 2022, with eventual plans for 400 trips a year.

Some 600 people have booked flights, costing $200,000 to $250,000 -- and there has been talk of Branson himself taking part in a test flight this summer, although no date has been set.

Agence France-Presse

Tributes pour in for 'man on the moon' Armstrong

WASHINGTON -- Tributes poured in Sunday following the death of Neil Armstrong, the humble US astronaut whose "small step" on the moon captivated the world and came to embody the wonder of space exploration.

Armstrong, who died Saturday at the age of 82 from complications following heart surgery earlier this month, inspired generations to reach for the stars and etched his name next to one of the great milestones of human discovery.

The grainy black-and-white broadcast of Armstrong's moon walk on July 20, 1969 was seen by some 500 million people, his words capturing the promise of the still-young space age and briefly uniting a planet split by the Cold War.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," the earthbound heard Armstrong say, though he later claimed that an "a" before the word "man" had been lost in transmission.

US President Barack Obama, who was just two weeks short of his eighth birthday when the historic mission succeeded, said Armstrong had "delivered a moment of human achievement that will never be forgotten."

Armstrong's family praised him as a "reluctant American hero," saying they hoped his legacy would encourage young people "to be willing to explore and push the limits and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves."

The lunar pioneer was decorated by 17 countries and received a slew of US honors, but was never comfortable with his worldwide fame and shied away from the limelight.

In a rare television interview in 2005, Armstrong said he did not deserve the attention he received for being the first man on the moon, just steps ahead of fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.

"I wasn't chosen to be first. I was just chosen to command that flight. Circumstance put me in that particular role," he said.

Armstrong even stopped signing memorabilia after learning his autographs were being sold at exorbitant prices.

John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, recalled Armstrong's legendary humility, telling CNN that the astronaut "didn't feel that he should be out huckstering himself."

Aldrin said he had hoped that he, Armstrong and Michael Collins, the third astronaut on the mission, would have met up in 2019 for celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

"Whenever I look at the moon, it reminds me of the moment over four decades ago when I realized that even though we were farther away from Earth than two humans had ever been, we were not alone," Aldrin said.

On Sunday, more praise poured in from world leaders and fellow astronauts, with French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault saying that Armstrong's "small step" had "realized the dream of generations of inventors, scientists, artists, poets or simply amateurs, of the beauties of space."

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he "vividly" remembered the night Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the "Sea of Tranquility," saying Armstrong had "left an eternal footprint on our memories."

Richard Branson, the British tycoon who is launching a space tourism program, hailed Armstrong as "an extraordinary individual."

Born in Wapakoneta, Ohio on August 5, 1930, Armstrong had an early fascination with aircraft and worked at a nearby airport when he was a teenager. He received his pilot's license on his 16th birthday.

A US Navy aviator, he flew 78 missions in the Korean War.

Armstrong joined NASA's predecessor agency, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, in 1955.

As a research pilot at NASA's Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, he flew on many pioneering high-speed aircraft, eventually flying over 200 different models, including helicopters, gliders, jets and rockets.

He reached astronaut status in 1962, and was assigned as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission, during which he performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space.

After retiring from NASA in 1971, Armstrong taught aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati for nearly a decade and served on the boards of several companies, including Lear Jet, United Airlines and Marathon Oil.

In announcing his death, Armstrong's family said they had a simple request to people in memory of Armstrong's life.

"Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink," it said.

source: interaksyon.com