The aerospace company announced that the 18-year-old will become the youngest astronaut in history when he travels into space with billionaire Jeff Bezos on Blue Origin’s maiden flight on July 20.
Private pilot license holder Oliver Daman, who graduated from high school in 2020, is Blue Origin’s first passenger, although he is not the winner of an onboard seat auction. The latter, who guaranteed himself a place for $ 28 million, wished to remain anonymous and will fly on a future mission.
Daman will join Bezos, his brother Mark and experienced pilot Wally Funk aboard New Shepard’s first manned flight. At the age of 18 and 82, Daman and Funk will become, respectively, the youngest and oldest astronauts to go into space.
“This marks the start of commercial operations [da nave] New Shepard and Oliver represent a new generation of people who will help us navigate our way into space, ”said Bob Smith, CEO of the company Bezos founded.
According to the statement, New Shepard will fulfill Daman’s dream of life, fascinated by Space, the Moon and rockets since he was four.
In September, the young man plans to study physics and innovation management at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.
Oliver Daeman’s nationality has not been disclosed, but most of the comments on his Instagram account are in Dutch.
Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the richest man in the world, hopes to join Richard Branson in the club of billionaires who took to space in a spaceship built by his own company. On Sunday, Branson flew aboard the Virgin Galactic spacecraft, a milestone for the fledgling space tourism industry.
Although Bezos comes in second, Blue Origin expects its experience to be better than Virgin Galactic because, unlike its competitor, New Shepard will cross the internationally recognized boundary of Space at 100 kilometers. Blue Origin also claims its rocket is greener.
