Amazon founder Bezos, the world's richest man, said in a June post that he would travel to space in July aboard the new Shepard, a spacecraft launched by his rocket company Blue Origin.
As a result, American netizens have petitioned: "Don't let Bezos return to Earth." "There shouldn't be billionaires on the planet.
So far, the petition target of 150,000 people is almost complete
But Bezos did something big again, inviting an 82-year-old woman in addition to a space trip with his brother.
Of course, the last seat was reserved for the auction winner who paid $28 million, after all, the trip still needed to be paid for.
82-year-old lady, such an age can still go to space is also a winner in life!
What the hell is going on with her?
In 1961, Fink volunteered to be a member of the Mercury 13 program, also known as the Women's Space Program.
Fink in his youth
Designed to help NASA train more women for space flight programs.
Fink became the youngest woman to graduate from the program.
In one training test, Fink spent 10 hours and 35 minutes in the sensory deprivation tank.
She was told that in training "she did better than anyone else and finished faster".
However, when she applied to NASA four times to "want to become an astronaut", she was rejected.
Former Mercury 13 members who did not become astronauts because of their gender
The main reason for rejection is sexism.
At the time, all NASA astronauts were military test pilots and men.
After more than half a century of waiting, the old lady finally ushered in the highlight of her life.
At that time, the 82-year-old lady will defeat the late astronaut John Glenn to become the oldest person to go into space.
John Glenn was 77 years old when he flew into space on the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998.
Fink has extensive experience flying airplanes, recording more than 19,600 flight hours and teaching more than 3,000 people how to fly private and commercial aircraft.
But these will not be used on Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft.
Competitive seat auctions
The ship has four seats, Bezos and his brother do not have to pay for it, and the old lady is invited to ride for free.
The competition for this valuable ferry ticket in the end can be described as fierce.
Nearly 6,000 participants from 143 countries competed in the auction.
At first, the bidding price was $2.8 million, and after two days, the bidding price reached $4.8 million.
But in the final moments of the live auction, the bidding price went up wildly, and in millions of dollars.
In the end, an unnamed bidder paid $28 million at the auction to beat about 20 opponents to get an exclusive seat.
In 2018, Blue Origin had planned to charge passengers at least $200,000.
Blue Origin simulates astronaut flight
Of course, the $28 million won was for the chance to participate in the first flight, which is less than the $35 million that billionaire Guy spent on the space station in 2009.
The New Shepard will take off from the desert in west Texas in July, and the entire journey will last 10 minutes. Passengers can see space and Earth through the ship's large window.
New Shepard's suborbital flight reached about three times the speed of sound, and then the capsule separated from the rocket booster at the top of the ballistic trajectory.
Passengers will stay for 4 minutes at an altitude of more than 100 kilometers, above the Carmen Line, which marks the recognized boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and space, during which time the crew will experience weightlessness and observe the curvature of the Earth from space.
Multiple cameras inside the ship will help people record the minutes of weightlessness experienced by space visitors.
The capsule will then deploy a large parachute, reducing its descent speed to less than 32 kilometers per hour before landing, and finally passengers will be further cushioned by shock-absorbing seats.
This fully autonomous spacecraft and rocket system could allow almost anyone to become an astronaut within hours of safety instruction and training.
Blue Origin's New Shepard has successfully conducted more than a dozen driverless trial runs from its facility in Mount Guadalupe, West Texas.
And it all started with Bezos's childhood dream.
"Ever since I was 5 years old, I've dreamed of traveling to space. On July 20, I will be embarking on this journey with my brother," Bezos said in an Instagram post.
Bezos, who has resigned as CEO of Amazon, will spend more time on other projects, including Blue Origin, which he says he will fulfill his lifelong dream by flying into space.
I don't know if it is a dream, but the space flight business is really rich, after all, this is only a game that a few people can enter, and the rich people who want to come to space can queue up a long line.
SpaceX's space travel business
Billionaire Isaacman bought spaceflight services from Elon Musk's SpaceX company.
After receiving a series of trainings, four civilian astronauts will travel for several days in low-Earth orbit aboard Spacex's Dragon capsule.
In addition to the billionaire himself and a hospital paramedic, the other two places will be selected through random lottery missions, and any civilian with dreams of circumnavigating the earth can participate in the abstraction.
Space travel business of the Russian Space Agency
Japanese billionaire Tomosaku Maezawa and his assistants will be the next visitors to the International Space Station.
They bought Russia's space travel service. It was also the first time that two of the three positions on the Soyuz space rocket had been occupied by tourists.
For The Russian Space Agency, after the SpaceX rocket successfully sent NASA astronauts into space, they lost their monopoly position of transporting people to the International Space Station, so they had to resume the space tourism program.
The flight will last 12 days. Japan's billionaire Maezawa said: "I am very curious about what life in space is like. Therefore, I intend to find the answers myself and share them with the world. ”
NASA's space travel business
NASA has officially signed a deal with private astronauts traveling to the International Space Station no earlier than January 2022.
And that business plan would cost the four crew members $55 million each.
Virgin Galactic Corporation
In addition to that, Virgin Galactic is also one of Blue Origin's competitors.
Virgin Galactic founder billionaire Richard will also make his first flight, which will open the door for its customers to eventually ascend into suborbital space.
Interestingly, in 2019, the old lady also bought a Virgin Galactic space plane ticket, and it is unclear whether Fink will fly with Virgin Galactic after this flight.
Send civilians into space.
This is a landmark moment that will usher in a new era of private commercial space travel.
In the future, if you want to travel and have enough money, going to space can really be a fulfillable wish.
In 50 or 100 years, will people wear spacesuits and take children around the moon or Mars to visit and play?