Man, 18, to Become Youngest Person in Space After Securing Slot in Jeff Bezos's Rocket
- The teenager managed to secure the spot after the original R373 million winner of Blue Origin's auction for the spot chose a later mission "due to scheduling conflicts''
- Blue Origin confirmed that Daemen was a participant in the auction and had secured a seat on the second flight
- Briefly News understands the winner of Blue Origin's auction for the spot remains anonymous
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When billionaire Jeff Bezo announced his plans to make his maiden ''flight'' to space, not many people thought it would come to pass.
Source: UGC
However, the billionaire proved naysayers wrong by successfully making his maiden trip, making him the first billionaire to travel to Space.
Well, his rocket journey to space seems to have attracted the attention of other people including his first-ever customer who has shown interest in making another trip with the billionaire.
Briefly News has learnt that Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin recently made it public that it had gotten its first paying customer, an 18-year-old space enthusiast who will also be the youngest person in the world to travel to space.
NBC News confirmed to the world that a dutch teenager who goes by Oliver Daemen will be joining the Amazon founder, his brother, Mark Bezos, and pilot Wally Funk when they launch into space aboard the New Shepard rocket on Tuesday, July 20.
Daemen managed to secure the position after the original winner of Blue Origin's auction for the spot chose a later mission "due to scheduling conflicts''.
The winner of Blue Origin's auction for the spot remains anonymous.
According to NBC News, Daemen may be the youngest person to ever travel to space but Funk, 82, will be the oldest to have ever done the same.
Funk, who is a pilot and flight instructor, was part of Mercury 13, which is a group of female pilots who underwent testing to determine whether women could handle space travel.
Briefly News understands that several female pilots went through the same studies in the early 1960s as NASA’s Mercury 7 astronauts but they were rejected for being women.
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We thank the auction winner for their generous support of Club for the Future and are honored to welcome Oliver to fly with us on New Shepard. This marks the beginning of commercial operations for New Shepard, and Oliver represents a new generation of people who will help us build a road to space.” Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said.
A Blue origin spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that Daemen "was a participant in the auction and had secured a seat on the second flight.”
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Source: Briefly News
Maryn Blignaut (Human-Interest HOD) Maryn Blignaut is the Human Interest manager and feature writer. She holds a BA degree in Communication Science, which she obtained from the University of South Africa in 2016. She joined the Briefly - South African News team shortly after graduating and has over six years of experience in the journalism field. Maryn passed the AFP Digital Investigation Techniques course (Google News Initiative), as well as a set of trainings for journalists by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at: maryn.blignaut@briefly.co.za
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
