Jeff Bezos has sent a mystery passenger into space, with their identity being kept secret until after the flight is completed.
This comes after Blue Origin launched its latest vehicle in a bid to venture into space tourism.
Taking off from the firm’s Texas facility on Wednesday (October 8), the New Shepard vehicle took six people to the edge of space, marking its 15th human flight.
This is the first time since the program started in 2021 that it has carried an unnamed passenger whose identity is being kept secret from the public.
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Blue Origin shared that the flight would go ahead with ‘an undisclosed sixth crew member who asked to remain anonymous until after the flight’.
The five other members are franchise executive Jeff Elgin, electrical engineer Clint Kelly, entrepreneur Danna Karagussova, startup founder Aaron Newman and real estate investor Vitalii Ostovsky.
The cost of a ticket for a spot onboard the spacecraft, which offers you a 10 minute ride up to space and back, is between $200,000 and $300,000.
This hasn’t come without its criticism though, with some experts citing environmental issues this could bring.
In a study published in the AGU journal Earth’s Future, a team of researchers wrote: “Routine space tourism launches may undermine progress made by the Montreal Protocol in reversing ozone depletion in the Arctic springtime upper stratosphere.
“[Soot] particles from rockets are also of great concern, as these are almost five hundred times more efficient at warming the atmosphere than all other sources of soot combined.”
This isn’t the first time a launch has been widely criticized as, earlier this year, there was discourse on singer Katy Perry’s decision to take part in a Blue Origin trip.
Perry jetted off alongside TV personality Gayle King, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, film producer Kerianne Flynn, rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and journalist Lauren Sánchez who is the wife of Bezos.
And according to a report by TheGamer, the flight had such a negative impact on the environment that it broke an infamous record held by Taylor Swift.
While it’s hard to properly quantify the exact amount of carbon emissions generated by both Swift’s private jet usage and lengthy tour and Blue Origin’s space launch, it has been indicated that the 11 minute trip that Perry took part in likely had a larger impact overall.
However, one passenger who took part this week, Karagussova, has argued that there is a good reason for the space flights.
She said: “By exploring new horizons, we not only advance technology but also expand our own capabilities. For me, Mission NS-36 with Blue Origin is part of a research project and a step toward a dream I have been working on for many years.”