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For the first flight, Blue Origin auctioned off one of the seats, and the proceeds went to Mr. Bezos’ space-focused, non-profit, Club for the Future. The winning bid was $28 million, a much higher amount than they had hoped, which stunned even Blue Origin officials. Blue Origin announced that it will distribute $19 million of it to 19 space-related organizations – $1 million each.
The 7,600 attendees gave Blue Origin a list of potential paying customers, and the company began selling tickets for subsequent flights.
Blue Origin declined to say what the price was or how many people signed up, but company representatives say there is strong demand.
“Our early flights go at a very good price,” Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said at a press conference on Sunday.
During Tuesday’s auction for seats on the flight, the company said that auction participants will be able to purchase seats on subsequent flights. He did not publicly disclose how much he charged bidders or how many seats were sold.
Two additional flights are planned for this year, said Ariane Cornell, director of astronaut and orbital sales at Blue Origin. “That’s why we’ve built a solid pipeline of interested customers,” he said.
Virgin Galactic, the other company that offers suborbital flights, already has about 600 people who have purchased tickets. The price was initially $200,000 and later rose to $250,000, but Virgin Galactic stopped sales in 2014 after its first spaceplane crashed during a test flight. Virgin Galactic officials say they will resume sales this year and the price will likely be higher than $250,000.
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