Blue Origin space trip auction nets R129 million

[Hanno Labuschagne]

Blue Origin space trip auction nets R129 million

A seat in a Blue Origin New Shepard capsule going to space was auctioned for $8 million (R129 million) Monday night, with the winning bid coming from Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder of hedge fund Citadel.

Griffin will donate the spot to a New York City school teacher, whose selection will be organized by poverty-fighting philanthropy the Robin Hood Foundation, auctioneer Lydia Fenet of Christie’s said. Another school teacher from the city will also be on the flight. They have yet to be chosen.

[Bloomberg]

 

[Unreal]

Damn, I missed the auction.

 

[deweyzeph]

I love how everyone just ignores the fact that Blue Origin has, to date, not sent a single space vehicle into orbit, a feat that Spacex achieved years ago now. It boggles the mind why anyone would spend that kind of money for nothing more than a glorified rollercoaster ride, and not even get to orbit the earth.

 

[Nuro]

I love how everyone just ignores the fact that Blue Origin has, to date, not sent a single space vehicle into orbit, a feat that Spacex achieved years ago now. It boggles the mind why anyone would spend that kind of money for nothing more than a glorified rollercoaster ride, and not even get to orbit the earth.

Yeah, R129M for a sub orbital flight? No thanks, even if I did have the cash. The progress at Blue Origin is painfully slow, neither the BE-4 engine or New Glenn has made at least a test flight. I'm a SpaceX fan, but they need competition, and Blue Origin doesn't seem to be it.

 

[GrootVoet]

SpaceX sends actual useful things into space, like satellites and people to the ISS, Blue Origin is for joy rides.