Jeff Bezos Will Fly To Space Alongside An 18-Year Old Physics Student

Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) Chair Jeff Bezos will fly onboard Blue Origin’s “New Shepard” spacecraft, and accompanying him would be an 18-year-old Physics student.

What Happened: Bezos-backed Blue Origin said in a statement that Oliver Daemen will be its first paying customer. 

As per the company, Daemen and Wally Funk, Age 82, would represent the youngest and oldest astronauts to travel to space on July 20.

Daemen takes the place of an anonymous winner of Blue Origin’s auction who has “chosen to fly on a future New Shepard mission due to scheduling conflicts,” as per the space tourism company.

Bezos will also be joined on the flight by his brother Mark Bezos.

Why It Matters: The anonymous person who was originally scheduled to fly with Bezos bid $28 million to fly on New Shepard.

Daemen’s father is the founder and CEO of the investment management firm Somerset Capital Partners Joes Daemen. 

Bezos was beaten to space by Sir Richard Branson, who flew onboard Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc’s (NYSE: SPCE) Unity 22 spacecraft on July 11.

See Also: Billionaire Space Flight Turns Into Space Fight As Elon Musk, Blue Origin CEO Take Potshots At Richard Branson

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk who also heads SpaceX has booked a ticket with Virgin Galactic.

SpaceX is also scheduled to launch a private astronaut mission in September. 

Price Action: On Thursday, Amazon shares closed 1.37% lower at $3,631.20 in the regular session and fell another 0.21% in the after-hours trading.

Read Next: Richard Branson Hangs Out With Elon Musk Before Historic Spaceflight

Photo: Courtesy of Blue Origin