Only weeks remain until Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, launches into space with his brother Mark Bezos and an anonymous passenger who paid $28 million for a seat on the Blue Origin vehicle named "New Shepard." However, in an interview with "Fox Business," NASA stated that it has a message for the billionaires competing in the space race: "It will not be the Wild West for those looking to travel there." NASA Administrator Bill Nelson remarked, "I am watching that, but they will have to undergo the same strict physical and psychological examinations as any other professional astronaut." He added, "We want the crew already on the space station to be safe, and you should not expect anything less than that."
This comes following the announcement of Bezos's flight, scheduled for July 20, and reports that Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, may attempt to beat Amazon's founder in the space race. Renowned blogger Douglas Messier noted that Virgin Galactic plans to fly Branson on a test flight during the weekend of July 4, according to “Yahoo Finance.”
However, traveling beyond Earth is not only the desire of the world's billionaires; many others share this ambition as well, as space travel is becoming accessible to the general public through competitions. SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, is among the companies that have set up contests to transport civilians into space. Meanwhile, the winner of the "Who Wants to Be an Astronaut" program on the Discovery Channel is expected to travel to the International Space Station in 2022.
