The Amazon founder is heading to space in July. He isn’t the first billionaire astronaut, and he won’t be the last, but he will be the first to bring his own spaceship.
By Kenrick Cai, Forbes Staff
On Monday, Jeff Bezos announced that he would fly into space in late July on his company Blue Origin’s spacecraft. The flight, scheduled for July 20, will take place just two weeks after Bezos steps down as CEO of Amazon, the e-commerce firm he founded in 1994. The occasion would make Bezos, now the world’s second-richest person, the first of the “space billionaires”—entrepreneurs who are funding space industry innovations—to personally visit outer space. But Bezos isn’t the first, and he’s far from the last billionaire astronaut. (The big question mark? Elon Musk, who has often stated his desire to travel into space but hasn’t yet announced concrete plans to do so.)
Here are the billionaires who have already gone to space or are scheduled to go to space soon:
The Billionaires Who’ve Already Been To Space
Charles Simonyi
When: April 2007 and March 2009
Where: International Space Station
How: Russian Soyuz via Space Adventures
Charles Simonyi, who built the first versions of Microsoft Office, was the first billionaire to go to space, and he remains the only one who’s gone twice. The Hungarian-born software developer joined Microsoft as its 40th employee in 1981 and stayed until 2002, before rejoining in 2017 when his former employer acquired his new company, Intentional Software. During his time away from the tech giant, Simonyi took two trips to the International Space Station via space tourism firm Space Adventures, which together cost him some $60 million. Said Simonyi of the experience during a 2015 interview with Forbes: “Every 90 minutes, you see spring, you see fall, you see the Arctic, you see the tropics, you see night, you see day.”
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Guy Laliberté
When: September 2009
Where: International Space Station
How: Russian Soyuz via Space Adventures
Former fire-breathing street performer Guy Laliberté got rich after cofounding circus entertainment company Cirque Du Soleil in 1984. The Canadian entrepreneur grew it into an international operation, then finally took a months-long break in 2009 to train for a flight to the International Space Station. He paid $35 million for the ticket, which was Space Adventures’ final private spaceflight for more than a decade. “Basically you’re going through a car crash,” he said of the landing. “As soon as we hit the ground I wanted to go back up there and do the ride again.”
The Billionaires Heading To Space In The Near Future
Jeff Bezos
When: July 2021
Where: Kármán line
How: Blue Origin New Shepard
Since founding Blue Origin in 2000, Bezos, the world’s second richest person, has pumped an estimated $7.5 billion of his own cash into the aerospace company, according to space-focused venture firm Space Capital. Bezos announced Monday that he, alongside younger brother Mark, will be passengers on the firm’s first crewed space flight, set to launch on July 20, just two weeks after he transitions to become the executive chairman of Amazon. The flight is scheduled to cross the Kármán line, the internationally recognized border to outer space, more than 60 miles above the Earth’s surface, before making its descent. “Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space,” Bezos said in an Instagram post on June 7.
Jared Isaacman
When: September 2021
Where: Geocentric orbit
How: SpaceX Dragon spacecraft
Payment processing entrepreneur Jared Isaacman is also a flight geek—he’s flown in air shows, and pilots fighter jets for fun. Now, Isaacman is set to be the commander on the world’s first all-civilian mission to space. The billionaire purchased all four seats aboard the SpaceX-operated flight, which is meant to raise awareness for St. Jude Children’s Hospital; among the crewmates selected is Hayley Arceneaux, a childhood cancer survivor.
Yusaku Maezawa
When: December 2021 and month TBD in 2023
Where: International Space Station and around the Moon
How: Russia Soyuz via Space Adventures and SpaceX Starship
Japanese billionaire Maezawa made his fortune by founding Zozotown, which at one point was his home country’s largest online fashion mall. In 2018, SpaceX’s Elon Musk announced that Maezawa would be its first private customer to fly around the Moon. Earlier this year, the entrepreneur added another space destination to his plans: through Space Adventures, he will now be the first space tourist to visit the International Space Station since Laliberté in 2009.
Richard Branson
When: Late 2021 (exact time TBD)
Where: About 55 miles above the Earth’s surface
How: Virgin Galactic Unity spacecraft
Continued setbacks mean Bezos is set to beat Branson as the first “space billionaire” to reach outer space. Branson is scheduled to be a passenger on Virgin Galactic’s third rocket-powered test flight, which CEO Michael Colglazier earlier told investors was planned to launch by March of this year. The first of those flights was ultimately completed in May; Branson’s flight, the third in the Virgin Galactic test flight series, is scheduled for later this year. The flights take passengers to about 55 miles above the Earth’s surface, which meets the FAA’s definition of spaceflight. After the series of test flights is completed, the company’s commercial service will begin operation. More than 600 passengers, including actors Angelina Jolie and Tom Hanks, have already booked flights. Some have waited more than a decade since their ticket purchase.
Sergey Brin
When: TBD
Where: International Space Station
How: TBD via Space Adventures
In 2008, Google cofounder Sergey Brin became an investor in Space Adventures through a $5 million deposit usable for a future orbital spaceflight. While Space Adventures will be resuming its private flights to the International Space Station this year, starting with billionaire Maezawa, it is unclear if or when Brin plans to go up.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss
When: TBD
Where: Suborbital space
How: Virgin Galactic spacecraft
he Winklevoss twins are among the hundreds of passengers who have booked commercial space flights through Virgin Galactic, though they remain the only (publicly disclosed) customers who used bitcoin for the purchase. They used the cryptocurrency to purchase a pair of tickets that cost the equivalent of $250,000 each in January 2014. Based on current trading prices, the bitcoin they spent is worth more than $10 million today.
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