Bid For The Very First Seat On New Shepard

Sixty years after Alan Shepherd got the US firmly into the space race by being the first American to undertake a sub-orbital flight, Blue Origin is offering the public a chance to take a very similar ride--albeit with greatly upgraded technology.

On July 20th, Blue Origin's New Shepard launch vehicle will fly its first astronaut crew to space. They are offering one seat on this first flight to the winning bidder of an online auction.

Blue Origin has been flight testing New Shepard and its redundant safety systems since 2012. The program has had 15 successful consecutive missions including three successful escape tests, showing the crew escape system can activate safely in any phase of flight.

As to the auction... There are three phases to the process:

MAY 5-19

• Sealed online bidding - you can bid any amount you want on the auction website (no bids are visible)

MAY 19

• Unsealed online bidding - the bids become visible and participants must exceed the highest bid to continue in the auction

JUNE 12

• Live auction - the bidding concludes with a live online auction.
• The winning bid amount will be donated to Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and help invent the future of life in space.

In the meantime, we'll be digging DEEP into our piggy banks and hoping for the best.

FMI: http://BlueOrigin.com