WASHINGTON : Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Monday announced that he will be flying to space on the first crewed flight of the New Shepard, the rocket ship made by his space company, Blue Origin next month.

The information about his space travel was shared through Bezos’ Instagram post that ended with Blue Origin’s Latin motto, Gradatim Ferociter – which the company translates as “step by step ferociously.”

The flight is scheduled for July 20, just a couple of weeks after Bezos plans to resign as Amazon’s CEO. Amazon’s new incoming CEO is Andy Jassy.

The date also marks the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Blue Origin announced that Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark will join the auction winner on New Shepard’s first human flight on July 20th

Auction bidding is already at USD 2.8 million with nearly 6,000 participants from 143 countries.

Bidding is underway now at BlueOrigin.com and will conclude with a live online auction on June 12. The winning bidder will fly to space on New Shepard’s first human flight on July 20.

The winning bid amount will be donated to Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, whose mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and to help invent the future of life in space, said an official release.

Bezos isn’t alone in spending some of his enormous wealth on space exploration.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Crew Dragon now regularly carries astronauts to and from the International Space Station. And in May, a test flight by Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic reached an altitude of 55 miles, marking its third human spaceflight.

But neither Musk nor Branson has traveled to space yet in their companies’ aircraft. (ANI)

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