A keen bidder has paid an eye-watering $28 million for a seat on the 11-minute flight to space that Jeff Bezos is set to board.
The space-enthusiast will join the Amazon founder and his brother aboard their Blue Origin spacecraft on July 20, The Guardian reports.
Bezos' company Blue Origin offered up the opportunity for one wealthy person to join the brothers on their space flight by putting a spare seat up for auction on Saturday, June 12.
As many as 7,600 people from 159 countries originally registered to bid, but the auction ultimately saw 20 active bidders who started the race at $4.8 million.
With the auction lasting just 10 minutes, the bids escalated in the final three minutes just moments before the winning bid of $28 million was placed.
The winner’s identity has not yet been announced, but the bidder is set to join the Bezos brothers on their once-in-a-lifetime trip.
The trip will mark the Blue Origin’s 16th flight into space, but the first carrying humans. After blasting off from Van Horn, Texas, the automated flight will last just 11 minutes.
The company has not yet revealed who will be joining Bezos, his brother and the successful bidder in the capsule, which will carry as many as six passengers.
Per the company’s terms, those onboard must be between 5ft and 6ft 4in tall and weigh 110-223lb.
Those looking to join Bezos in space must also be able to climb seven flights of stairs at the launch tower in less than 90 seconds and sit strapped in the vehicle for as long as 90 minutes without access to a toilet.
As well as all of those stipulations, they must also be able to withstand gravitational forces of as much as 5.5 times the person’s normal weight during descent, and three times the weight for as long as two minutes on the ascent, The Guardian reports.
Bezos last week announced his venture into space in a post on social media.
Per CNN Business, the 57-year-old Amazon founder announced that he will be part of the crew of the maiden voyage of the spacecraft made by his company Bue Origin, along with his brother Mark Bezos.
The world's richest man is due to depart in the manned spaceflight on July 20th - a mere 15 days after he is due to resign as the CEO of Amazon.
Bezos announced that he will be joining the spaceflight in a post made on his official Instagram account on Monday, June 7.
In a caption addressed to his 2.8 million followers on the platform, the multi-billionaire wrote: "Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space.
"On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend."
CNN reports that the upcoming space mission will see the company's six-seater capsule and 59-foot rocket fly to the very edge of space on an 11-minute-long flight reaching more than 60 miles above the planet Earth's surface.
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