Jeff Bezos speaks at an event in Dallas, United States 20/04/2018 REUTERS / Rex Curry
Potential customers and the aerospace industry are eager to know the cost of a Blue Origin New Shepard space flight to find out if it is possible to pay and if the company can generate sufficient demand to be profitable.
The leaders of Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com in 2000, told a conference last month that they were planning test flights with passengers to NewShepard soon, with the Ticket sales should take place in NewShepard.
The company disclosed the general model of the vehicle – formed by a launch rocket and a separable passenger capsule – but did not talk about the situation of production and passing prices.
Blue Origin Representatives did not respond to requests for comments on their programs and pricing strategy. Bezos said in May that ticket prices had not yet been set.
A Blue Origin employee with first-hand knowledge of the pricing plan stated that the company would start selling a ticket between $ 200,000 and $ 300,000. A second official said the tickets would cost at least $ 200,000. Both spoke under the guise of anonymity, since the pricing strategy is confidential.
New Shepard is made to autonomously transport six passengers more than 100 kilometers above the Earth in a suborbital space high enough to experience for a few minutes the lack of gravity and see the curvature of the planet before the pressurized cabin does not return to Earth with a parachute.
The capsule has six observation windows that according to Blue Origin are almost three times larger than the Boeing 747 jet line.
Blue Origin made eight flights of landing and landing. New Shepard vertical landing from its base in Texas, but without passengers on board.
The company will conduct the first test in the space of its capsule exhaust system, which will bring the crew to safety if the propellant explodes, "in a few weeks", said one of the officials. 19659014] Reuters "/>
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