People bid over $2mn for first ride on Blue Origin's spaceship

People are bidding as high as $2.8 million for a 10-minute experience on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's aerospace company Blue Origin's space tourism mission New Shepard, the media reported. A single seat aboard the New Shepard crew capsule, dubbed the RSS First Step Crew Capsule, went up for auction earlier this month, starting with a sealed bidding round that drew "more than 5,200 bidders from 136 countries," the company said in a statement on Wednesday. By Wednesday morning, when the auction's open-bidding phase began, the highest bid was revealed: $1.4 million. It rose to $2.8 million by the afternoon, the Verge reported. RSS First Step, a gumdrop-shaped pod with seats for six, will fly its inaugural crew in the next six months, with one seat reserved for the winning bidder and the rest for company-selected passengers. Proceeds from the auction will go to Blue Origin's philanthropy, Club for the Future, the report said. (IANS)

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