Blue Origin to hold live auction today for July trip to space with Jeff Bezos

The first two berths of Blue Origin's New Shepard, a reusable rocket, has been reserved for company's owner Jeff Bezos and his brother, Mark.

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin is set to hold a live auction for a seat on its reusable rocket that will fly to space on July 20. Blue Origin said that more than 7,500 people from 159 countries have registered to bid for the third berth—the first two are reserved for Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark Bezos—on New Shepard, a launch vehicle named after Alan Shepard, the first American to fly to space.

Jeff Bezos, in an Instagram post, announced that he will travel to space along with his brother, a dream he had since was five years old. (Reuters, Blue Origin)

Over a month-long three-phase bidding process, which included sealed and unsealed online bidding in the first two, will conclude with a live auction on Saturday. According to Blue Origin, the current high bid for a seat on New Shepard is at $4.8 million, which means the winner of the live auction will probably need to pay more than $5 million.

The US-based space company said that the winning bid amount will be donated to its foundation, Club for the Future, to “inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and help invent the future of life in space.”

Earlier on Monday, Jeff Bezos, in an Instagram post, announced that he will travel to space along with his brother, a dream he had since was five years old. "To see the Earth from space, it changes you. It changes your relationship with this planet, with humanity. It's one Earth. I want to go on this flight because it's a thing I've wanted to do all my life. It's an adventure, it's a big deal for me,” said Bezos in the video.

The launch of the New Shepard booster on July 20 will be a landmark moment for US firms striving toward a new era of private commercial space travel. While Blue Origin has not divulged its pricing strategy for future trips, a Reuters report in 2018 suggested that the space company was planning to charge passengers at least $200,000 for the ride, based on a market study and other considerations.

"Putting the world's richest man and one of the most recognized figures in business into space is a massive advertisement for space as a domain for exploration, industrialization and investment," Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas told clients earlier this month.

The live auction for a seat on Blue Origin’s New Shepard is expected to start at 12:45pm EDT (10:45pm IST) and last a few minutes. The auction can be watched live at blueorigin.com and its YouTube channel.