Blue Origin has sold a seat onboard New Shepard's first ever human spaceflight next month for $28 million through an auction, reports said Sunday.
The auction saw 7,600 registered bidders from 159 countries. The identity of the winning bidder was not immediately disclosed.
Saturday's auction concluded a monthlong bidding process for the sightseeing jaunt on Jeff Bezos' private spaceflight company's maiden voyage.
It would also be a landmark moment as U.S. companies strive toward a new era of private commercial space travel.
"To see the Earth from space changes you. It changes your relationship with this planet, with humanity," Bezos said in remarks quoted by The Telegraph in a video before the final bidding.
Bezos, Amazon founder, announced last week that he and his younger brother, Mark, would be on board New Shepard's first manned flight. The news quickly boosted bidding, according to The Associated Press.
Blue Origin said it will announce a fourth passenger "sometime in the coming weeks," ahead of the July 20 target flight date in West Texas.
The New Shepard will fly to suborbital space and spend a few minutes there before returning to Earth. Its fully automated capsule can carry up to six passengers, each with their own big window.
Bezos, a lifelong space enthusiast and the world's richest man, has been racing against fellow billionaire aeronauts Elon Musk and Richard Branson to be the first of the three to travel beyond Earth's atmosphere.
"Putting the world's wealthiest man into space is a massive advertisement for space as a domain for exploration, industrialization and investment," Reuters quoted Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas as saying.
Blue Origin has not disclosed its pricing strategy for future space trips.
