A New Shepard spacecraft blasting off from Blue Origin's Van Horn, Texas, launch site to kick off a 10-minute up-and-down ride to space. Originally scheduled for December 9, the launch date was pushed back to Saturday, December 11, due to windy conditions. Michael Strahan of ABC's "Good Morning America" and Laura Shepard Churchley will fly as guests of Blue Origin, joining four paying customers: philanthropist Dylan Taylor, investor Evan Dick, Lane Ventures founder Lane Bess and his son, Cameron. Strahan, who stands at six feet and five inches, was the tallest person in space, and Echazarreta, who was born in Mexico, was hailed as the first ever Mexican woman in space.The third crewed flight of Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital spacecraft will launch in December with a crew of six, including a network morning anchor and the eldest daughter of Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, the company announced. With few exceptions, people who flew for free or through sponsors were often featured as the milestone passenger of their mission and became part of what some might call a gimmicky marketing campaign.įunk and Shatner, 82 and 90, respectively, at the time of their flights, were the oldest persons to go to space. There is an element of kudos in being part of what may be a very exclusive and small group of participants.” Blue Origin gives away free rides to certain passengers “It’s not only the amount of money available. In space tourism, Davis added, customers tend to be willing to pay a significant premium in exchange for a coveted experience. “In a very basic sense, something is worth what someone will pay for it.” The practice is commonplace in luxury goods and services where demand exceeds supply, said Nick Davis, founder of Instajet, a private jet charter service. In the U.S., price discrimination is legal as long as it’s not based on a prohibitive basis, such as race, ethnicity, gender, or religion. The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates the commercial human spaceflight, doesn’t have any rules around how much a company can charge its passengers or whether they can customize pricing. “It sounds as though they don’t want to say what their price is so that they can tailor it to how much you are worth, and you still feel like you get a good deal because you are paying less than the person who bought the first seat through the auction,” said Chrisman of the Foundation for the Future. In June 2021, Blue Origin’s nonprofit branch, Club for the Future, donated $1 million to Space for Humanity with money from the auction proceeds from Blue Origin’s maiden flight. Space for Humanity declined to disclose how much Echazarreta’s ticket cost, but said it paid with the support of former New Shepard passengers. Katya Echazarreta, a 26-year-old electrical engineer who hosts a science show on YouTube, flew on a June 4 flight paid for by Space for Humanity, a nonprofit founded by Dylan Taylor, an investor who flew on a New Shepard mission in December 2021. Some didn’t pay Blue Origin directly but had sponsors cover the cost. Several passengers paid nothing, flying as Blue Origin’s “honorable guests.” That included aviation pioneer Wally Funk, Star Trek actor William Shatner, former football star Michael Strahan, and Laura Shepard Churchley, the daughter of astronaut Alan Shepard (after whom Blue Origin named its rocket). The passenger is a board member of the nonprofit, Chrisman said. But a passenger who is scheduled to fly this December paid only $1 million for his seat, according to Tim Chrisman, a former CIA officer and the cofounder of the Foundation for the Future, a nonprofit advocating for infrastructure development in space. After the winner said he couldn’t make the trip due to a schedule conflict, the seat was sold to the second highest bidder, who reportedly paid nearly as much. In June 2021, Blue Origin auctioned off a seat on its maiden flight for $28 million-more than 100 times what Virgin Galactic charges for a similar experience. Blue Origin ticket ranges from zero to $28 million Even the most out-of-reach space experience has a price tag: Axiom Space, a Texas startup, is marketing a 10-day trip to the International Space for $55 million. Space Perspective charges $125,000 per person on a six-hour journey to the stratosphere in a balloon-borne pressurized capsule. Virgin Galactic sells a 90-minute ride to suborbital space for $450,000 per seat. Most of Blue Origin’s competitors follow a simpler approach. Blue Origin declined to discuss its pricing strategy. It’s kind of a package deal,” said Roman Chiporukha, cofounder of SpaceVIP, a platform that helps the wealthy book space trips, including Blue Origin’s. “It’s not about money it’s about who you are, your social capital, whether you align with their launch purposes.
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