Space Fantasy #94: It Costs $28 Million....No Refunds.....

Bidder splashes out $28 million to secure a seat next to Jeff Bezos and his brother on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket on its first manned flight on the anniversary of the moon landing 

An unnamed bidder paid $28million at auction Saturday for a seat onboard the first crewed spaceflight by Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin, as one of four passengers including the Amazon founder himself. The winner, whose identity will be disclosed in the coming weeks, beat 20 other participants in an auction launched in late May that wrapped up with a 10-minute online bidding frenzy, livecast by Blue Origin. The July 20 launch - which coincides with the anniversary of the moon landing - will be the first test of Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket with people on board, kicking off the company's space tourism business. Fifteen previous test flights of the reusable rocket and capsule since 2015 - short hops lasting about 10 minutes - were all successful. Bezos, the world's wealthiest man and a lifelong space enthusiast, has been racing against fellow billionaires Richard Branson and Elon Musk to be the first of the three to travel beyond Earth's atmosphere. Source