On Thursday, just five days before the flight, Blue Origin still did not reveal the winning bidder, but said in a news release that this person decided to defer his trip to a future New Shepard launch “due to scheduling conflicts.”
Instead, Mr. Daemen, the son of the chief executive of a private equity investment firm and one of the runners-up in the auction, will take the seat.
“He was a participant in the auction and had secured a seat on the second flight,” Sara Blask, a Blue Origin spokeswoman, said in an email.
Mr. Daemen graduated from high school last year and is taking a year off from school before starting in the fall at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
“This is a dream come true!” Mr. Daemen said in a news release from the family. “I hadn’t counted on this at all until last week that surprising phone call from Blue Origin came. This is so unbelievably cool! The flight to and into space only takes 10 minutes, but I already know that these will be the most special 10 minutes of my life.”
I want to know what type of scheduling conflict the original winner had. You bid $28 million and then oops my bad, I’m supposed to swim in my gold vault like Scrooge McDuck that night so I need to reschedule?
This kid got “picked” because losing bidders got to buy seats on the 2nd flight so daddy bought him a seat on that flight. And then Bezos picked the kid from that group so he can brag his flight has both the oldest and youngest person ever in space.
I honestly can’t even imagine having that kind of money to do that stuff with. To be able to spend that many millions to send your kid to space for 10 minutes? Damn
I honestly can’t even imagine having that kind of money to do that stuff with. To be able to spend that many millions to send your kid to space for 10 minutes? Damn
Mind you…who knows if this is truly a safe choice for anyone involved.
I honestly can’t even imagine having that kind of money to do that stuff with. To be able to spend that many millions to send your kid to space for 10 minutes? Damn
Mind you…who knows if this is truly a safe choice for anyone involved.
I have to wonder if that’s what the “scheduling conflict” was. It sounds cool in theory to go on an experimental space trip but in actuality? No thanks.
I want to know what type of scheduling conflict the original winner had. You bid $28 million and then oops my bad, I’m supposed to swim in my gold vault like Scrooge McDuck that night so I need to reschedule?
This kid got “picked” because losing bidders got to buy seats on the 2nd flight so daddy bought him a seat on that flight. And then Bezos picked the kid from that group so he can brag his flight has both the oldest and youngest person ever in space.
I think the person couldn’t pass the Healy screening or the fitness testing.
I can't be the only one waiting for these flights to blow up. (Clarification: I don't want them to blow up, I just can't see how they're *not* blowing up.)
I'm not going to lie. I would LOVE to go into space. But I also know that if I had a shit ton of money, I'd hope that I would use it to both go to space AND help others. These things are not mutually exclusive.
I'm not going to lie. I would LOVE to go into space. But I also know that if I had a shit ton of money, I'd hope that I would use it to both go to space AND help others. These things are not mutually exclusive.
In a more nuanced conversation, Bezos does give a shitton of money (maybe not proportionate to his wealth) to charity.
Jeff Bezos topped the list by donating $10 billion to launch the Bezos Earth Fund. Bezos, who last week announced he was stepping down as Amazon CEO to devote more time to philanthropy and other projects, also contributed $100 million to Feeding America, the organization that supplies more than 200 food banks.
As for the kid, I can't see the article, so I'm unsure who his parents are to look up their charitable donations.
From a different article: He is the son of Joes Daemen, the founder of Somerset Capital Partners BV, an investment firm. A spokeswoman for the family revealed Daemen's ticket to space was a gift from his father given the teen's interest in space and aviation.
The ticket prices are going to charity? Honestly, if they're going to be doing this anyway, at least charities are getting some of the dough.
His undisclosed ticket cost will be donated to charity, just as most of the winning $28 million was distributed this week to a variety of space education and advocacy groups.