Blue Origin's first crewed flight will take Jeff Bezos into Space

The entire flight will last eleven minutes, three of which will be spent in space

Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos will go to space aboard the New Shepard Suborbital vehicle on July 20. This will be Blue Origin's first crewed flight to the stars.

What makes this special is that the New Shepard Capsule is completely autonomous and does not need a pilot for operations. Bezos will be joined by his brother and another spot will go to the highest bidder in an auction scheduled for June 12. The vehicle can hold six passengers.

Bezos announced his trip in an Instagram post:

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A post shared by Jeff Bezos (@jeffbezos)

The July 20 launch date was chosen to coincide with NASA's 1969 Apollo 11 mission which took Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon, making them the first humans to set on a world other than our own.

The New Shepard suborbital vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, the first-ever NASA test pilot. The auction which is currently ongoing for a seat on the New Shepard is split into three phases, two of which - A sealed and unsealed online bidding in May - have already been completed. The final live auction will take place on June 12 and the winning bid amount will be donated to Club for the Future which inspires younger generations to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

The entire experience will last approximately eleven minutes and allow the crew to experience the weightlessness of space for three of those minutes.