Jeff Bezos aspires to fulfill his dream of going into space in July ... on his own rocket.
The founder of the commercial corporation Amazon announced this Monday that he will be one of the passengers of the ship developed by his aerospace company, Blue Origin, which on July 20 plans to make a 10-minute flight.
"Since I was five years old I have dreamed of traveling into space," wrote the richest man in the world (according to Forbes magazine) in a message on the social network Instagram.
"On July 20 I will make that trip with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend," he added.
The flight will come just 15 days after Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO, as announced in February.
The spacecraft will take off and land about 120 miles southeast of El Paso, Texas, near the Mexican border, and the journey will include three minutes in zero gravity.
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Blue Origin announced in May that its first flight on the New Shepard spacecraft, designed to carry up to six tourists each way, would auction a seat to the highest bidder.
The bid, which takes place on the website BlueOrigin.com until June 12, has already reached 3.2 million dollars, with almost 6,000 participants from 143 countries.
The money raised will be donated to the Blue Origin foundation, Club for the Future, to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education programs, the company explained.
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"Seeing the Earth from space changes you. It changes your relationship with the Earth, with humanity - it's one Earth," Bezos, 57, said in his announcement.
Space tourism will have another illustrious passenger in 2021. British magnate Richard Branson also intends to travel to space on a ship from his aerospace company, Virgin Galactic.
Billionaire Elon Musk has not yet specified when he will perform a space flight with a rocket from his company SpaceX, which has already transported astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS, in English).
With information from NBC and AP
