Photo: Win McNamee [Getty Images]
How much would you pay to leave this hot mess of a world for a few minutes? If it’s between $200,00 to $300,000, Blue Origin has you covered.
The spaceflight service company, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has been teasing the idea of space travel for years and recently suggested colonization of the Moon could begin as early as 2023. But getting there isn’t going to be cheap, as Reuters notes a seat on one of Blue Origin’s rockets will set you back around a quarter of a million dollars.
Yet, that’s not even the worst part, as there are no bathrooms on the test rocket “New Shepard,” so you’re going to have to hold it during the 40-minute round trip flight if the urge comes calling.
Blue Origin’s ticket price is comparable to rival spaceflight companies like Virgin Galactic, owned by Richard Branson, who has reportedly sold upwards of 650 tickets costing around $250,000, despite the fact they lack an initial launch date.
Thus far, Bezos’ Blue Origin has successfully completed eight test flights with the intention of selling tickets beginning at some point in 2019.
The fully autonomous, six-passenger ‘New Shepard’ takes 11-minutes to reach orbit, 62-miles above the earth’s surface. Guests will not only experience weightlessness but also see the curvature of the planet before the capsule returns to via a parachute.
Blue Origin plans to test their emergency ‘capsule escape system’ for the first time in the coming weeks, so if you’re interested in space safety or simply a closet pyromaniac, you might want to check it out.
