Jeff Bezos will fly on the primary passenger flight of his area firm Blue Origin, which the corporate plans to launch on July 20, the billionaire introduced on Monday.

“I want to go on this flight because it’s the thing I’ve wanted to do all my life,” Bezos stated in a video posted to his Instagram.

Bezos’ brother Mark will be a part of him, in addition to the winner of a public auction being held for one of the seats. Bidding on the public sale stood at $2.8 million earlier than Bezos introduced he would fly.

“I wasn’t even expecting him to say that he was going to be on the first flight,” Mark Bezos stated within the video. “What a remarkable opportunity, not only to have this adventure but to do it with my best friend.”

Blue Origin’s area tourism system New Shepard, a rocket that carries a capsule to the sting of area, has flown greater than a dozen profitable take a look at flights with out passengers on board, including one in April at the company’s facility in the Texas desert.

New Shepard is designed to hold as many as six folks at a time on a trip previous the sting of area, with the capsules on earlier take a look at flights reaching an altitude of greater than 340,000 toes (or greater than 100 kilometers). The capsule has huge home windows to offer passengers a view, spending a couple of minutes in zero gravity earlier than returning to Earth.

The rocket launches vertically, with the booster detaching and returning to land at a concrete pad close by. The capsule’s return is slowed by a set of parachutes, earlier than softly touchdown within the desert.

“To see the Earth from space, it changes you,” Bezos stated. “It’s an adventure; it’s a big deal for me.”

Bezos based Blue Origin in 2000 and continues to wholly personal the corporate, funding it through share sales of his Amazon inventory.

Notably, July 20 will mark the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon touchdown.