How an 18-year-old landed a seat on Jeff Bezos’ first crewed Blue Origin flight

Recent high school graduate Oliver Daemen became the youngest person to go to space on Tuesday morning after securing one of four seats on billionaire Jeff Bezos’ first crewed Blue Origin flight that took off from Texas on Tuesday morning. .

Daemen joined Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos and guest of honor Wally Funk, who trained to be an astronaut in the 1960s but was denied entry into the NASA space program, for the 10 minute ride just beyond the Karman Line.

But how did the 18-year-old get a spot?

The fourth seat inside the Blue Origin crew capsule was auctioned off to an anonymous bidder for $ 28 million, but the future astronaut was forced to postpone to a later flight date due to ‘a scheduling conflict and the seat went to the next highest bidder, making Daemen a last-minute addition, according to the Washington Post.

BLUE ORIGIN ALREADY HAS $ 100M IN PRIVATE SALES AND 2 ADDITIONAL HUMAN MISSIONS FOR THIS YEAR

Oliver Daemen smiles during a post-launch briefing where passengers described their experience flying from the spaceport near Van Horn, Texas on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. (AP Photo / Tony Gutierrez)

“We moved it when that seat on the first flight became available,” a Blue Origin spokesperson said, the Post reported.

Daemen’s father is Joes Daemen, the millionaire founder of Dutch firm Somerset Capital Partners, which invests in real estate, private equity and global financial markets. Joes Daemen paid for the theft, CNBC reported.

Oliver Daemen has his pilot’s license and plans to study physics at a Dutch university this fall.

Blue Origin said jumping into space was a “lifelong” dream for the teenager.

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Daemen is Blue Origin’s first paying passenger, which plans to sell more seats for future flights.