By Nneka Nwogwugwu
After a month-long bidding process for a sight-seeing trip on rocket company Blue Origin’s maiden voyage, along with founder Jeff Bezos, the winner of the bid was announced on Saturday.
Seven minutes into a live auction on Saturday, a bidder has won the privilege for a USD$28 million space ride.
The identity of the winner was not immediately disclosed.
“It’s about 10 times higher in altitude than your normal commercial jet flight.”
The sale illustrates a potential market for private commercial space travel.
In the month leading up to Saturday’s live auction, Blue Origin said more than 6,000 people from at least 140 countries submitted bids.
Investment banking company, UBS estimates a 3 billion annual space tourism market – by 2030.
That’s with optimism that space travel will become mainstream, as technology is proven and costs fall.
The prospect is fueling a race among tech giants to be the first to travel beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
Bezos is competing against the likes of fellow billionaires Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.
Bezos and Saturday’s winner are not expected to take off from West Texas until July 20.
