The Amazon founder announced this week that he and his brother Mark will be aboard the New Shepard on July 20 in just a 10-minute journey.
They will be joined by the winner of the charity auction, whose identity will be revealed in the coming weeks, and the fourth space tourist, who has yet to be determined, according to Blue Origin’s sales director Arian Cornell.
The third traveler won about 20 competitors in the auction, which began on May 19 and was broadcast on television for the last 10 minutes.
The proceeds will go to Blue Origin’s Club for the Future, which aims to “inspire future generations to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
The New Shepard will take off from the West Texas desert. The capsule, which will hold the passengers, will separate from the engine and pass through the Karman line about 100 kilometers high, which marks the border between the Earth’s atmosphere and space.
Of the 10-minute journey, travelers will spend four in space, where they can experience weightlessness and observe the curvature of the Earth as seen from space.
Bezos, who announced earlier this year that he would step down as Amazon CEO to devote more time to other projects, including Blue Origin, said space exploration is a lifelong dream.
Blue Origin has conducted a dozen successful New Shepard trials, albeit completely unmanned, at its facilities in the Guadeloupe Mountains of West Texas.
The reusable suborbital rocket system was named after Alan Shepard, the first American to reach space 60 years ago.
