WASHINGTON: Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin will send its first team into space on July 20 and offer one of the seats to the winner of an online auction, the company said Wednesday.
The trip will last a total of ten minutes, four of which will pass over the Karman line that marks the recognized boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space.
"We have been perfecting our ability to launch, land and repeat," reads a video accompanying the announcement.
"Our next launch will be the first time for astronauts to travel aboard New Shepard."
The reusable suborbital rocket system was named after Alan Shepard, who sixty years ago became the first American in space on Wednesday.
New Shepard has successfully conducted 15 unmanned tests from its facilities in the Guadalupe Mountains in West Texas.
After takeoff, the capsule, carrying up to six crew members, separates from its thruster, then spends four minutes at an altitude above 60 miles (100 kilometers), during which time those on board experience weightlessness and they can observe the curvature of the Earth from space.
The thruster autonomously lands on a platform two miles (3.2 kilometers) from the launch site, and the capsule returns to the surface floating with three large parachutes that slow it down to about one mile per hour when it lands.
Blue Origin said the tender will be announced on May 19 ahead of a live online auction in the final stage on July 12, when the winner is announced.
Proceeds will go to the company's foundation, Club for the Future, which aims to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM.
