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18-Year-Old to Fly on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Rocket Will Be the Youngest Person to Travel to Space

Oliver Daemen, 18, will be the youngest person to travel to space after Blue Origins' first human flight on July 20

Digital News Writer, PEOPLE

Jeff Bezos ' aerospace company Blue Origins has announced its history-making first paying customer.

Oliver Daemen, 18, will be the youngest person to travel to space after Blue Origins' first human flight on July 20. He will join Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, and pilot Wally Funk aboard the New Shepard rocket.

"I am super excited to be going to space," the teenager said in a video posted by Dutch news service Bright. "I've been dreaming about this all my life."

Daemen's father Joes Daemen, CEO of Dutch private equity firm Somerset Capital Partners, paid for the seat but chose to send his son instead, CNBC reported . The price of the seat has not been disclosed.

The teen takes the place of an anonymous auction winner who was supposed to join the Bezos brothers on their first space flight, but had to opt for a future flight instead due to scheduling conflicts, Blue Origins said in a press release .

Daemen isn't the only one setting a record with the space flight. Funk, 82, will also make history as the oldest person to travel to space — a record currently held by astronaut John Glenn, who was sent into orbit for the last time at age 77 in 1998, per NASA .

Funk is a member of what is known as Mercury 13, a group of women who tested to become astronauts in the 1960s, before their program was later canceled, according to The Washington Post .

"No one has waited longer," Bezos said in a social media post revealing that Funk will be his "honored guest" come July 20.

In a video shared by Bezos, 57, Funk explained that she's been "flying forever," and has 19,600 flying hours under her belt.

"I have taught over 3,000 people to fly — private, commercial, instrument, flight engineer, airline transport, gliding — everything that the FAA has, I've got the license for," she said in the Instagram clip, adding with a laugh, "And I can outrun you."

RELATED VIDEO: Ashton Kutcher Reveals Wife Mila Kunis Talked Him Out of Joining Next Virgin Galactic Space Flight

Funk said in Bezos' clip that during her time in the Mercury 13 program, she'd been told that she "had done better and completed the work faster than any of the guys."

But still, her ultimate dream of traveling to space eluded her.

"I got a hold of NASA four times. I said, 'I want to become an astronaut.' But nobody would take me," she said. "I didn't think that I would ever get to go up."

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According to the official website , the New Shepard is "fully autonomous," as there is no pilot and everyone is a passenger. The reusable vehicle takes 11-minute flights into space, "designed to take astronauts and research payloads past the Kármán line — the internationally recognized boundary of space."

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The Youngest Person to go to Space: Anastatia Mayers

Anastatia Mayers, an 18-year-old philosophy and physics student from Aberdeen University, made history as the youngest person to travel to space. Her extraordinary journey aboard Virgin Galactic’s Galactic 02 (G02) flight on August 10, 2023, not only set a record for youth but also marked a significant milestone in space tourism.

Today’s (August 23) story of what happened this day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration history.

Anastatia Mayers: the youngest person to go to space

Born in 2004 in Antigua and Barbuda, Anastatia, alongside her mother Keisha Schahaff, became the first citizens from their country and the first mother-daughter duo to venture into space. Their participation in this groundbreaking journey began in 2021 when they won tickets through a charity event held by Virgin Galactic. The tickets, typically priced at $450,000, were won with a minimum donation of just $10, contributing to the non-profit organization Space For Humanity.

A Diverse Crew and Inclusive Future of Space Travel

Galactic 02 was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS Unity and marked Virgin Galactic’s second commercial spaceflight and seventh overall. The mission comprised a diverse crew, including three private passengers and three Virgin Galactic employees. Among them was Jon Goodwin, the first Olympian and second person diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease to fly to space. The crew was commanded by CJ Sturckow and piloted by Kelly Latimer, with Beth Moses serving as an astronaut instructor.

Galactic 02 Crew

• Frederick W. Sturckow (Commander, former NASA astronaut, 8th spaceflight)
• Kelly Latimer (Pilot, 1st spaceflight)
• Beth Moses (Astronaut instructor, 4th spaceflight)
• Jon Goodwin (Tourist, 1st spaceflight)
• Keisha Schahaff (Tourist, 1st spaceflight)
• Anastatia Mayers (Tourist, 1st spaceflight, the youngest person to go to space)

Anastatia’s journey into space was not just a leap into the unknown but also a culmination of her academic pursuits. Attending Island Academy in Bendals Village, the only international school in Antigua and Barbuda, she nurtured a deep interest in science and the workings of the universe. Her choice to study philosophy and physics at Aberdeen University reflects her curiosity and desire to understand the world at a deeper level.

Inspiring a New Generation of Space Explorers

This flight was more than just a technological marvel; it was a cultural and historical breakthrough. It signified the expanding accessibility of space, a realm once reserved for rigorously trained astronauts. Virgin Galactic’s initiative, a part of the broader space tourism movement, is democratizing space travel, making it tangible and more accessible.

The importance of Anastatia and Keisha’s flight extends beyond their personal achievements. It is a testament to the shifting dynamics in space exploration, where space tourism is emerging as a new frontier. Companies like Virgin Galactic, led by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate, are working to make space travel more inclusive and accessible. Their efforts include lottery initiatives like the one that selected Mayers and Schahaff, aiming to break down barriers that have traditionally kept space out of reach for most people.

Anastatia’s experience offers a unique perspective on space travel. Her dual major in physics and philosophy equipped her with the tools to not only understand the scientific aspects of the journey but also to appreciate its deeper, existential implications. Her interest in space was kindled in grade four during an astronomy class, leading her to contemplate our place in the universe and the importance of understanding ourselves before seeking to understand the cosmos.

Related: Wally Funk becomes the oldest person to go to space at 82 years old

Virgin Galactic’s training program for the mission was rigorous, ensuring that Mayers, her mother, and fellow passenger Jon Goodwin were well-prepared for the challenges of space travel. Despite its short duration of about 90 minutes, the flight required significant physical and mental preparation. The risks involved in space travel are substantial, but the crew was accompanied by experienced astronauts who guided them through every step of the journey.

The Ethical Debate of Space Tourism

The debate surrounding space tourism is complex, with discussions about its morality and potential long-term consequences. Critics argue that it could lead to a form of intergalactic colonization, echoing the harmful impacts of historical colonialism. However, proponents see it as a way to democratize space exploration, making it an experience accessible to more than just a privileged few.

Breaking Barriers and Setting New Norms while Inspiring New Generations

Anastatia’s story is more than just a tale of scientific achievement. It’s a narrative of breaking boundaries and challenging norms. As the youngest person to go to space, and as part of the first mother-daughter team, she embodies the potential for inclusivity in space exploration. Her journey illustrates that space travel, once a distant dream for many, is becoming a more attainable reality.

Her trip to space wasn’t just a personal achievement but also a beacon of inspiration for young, aspiring scientists and explorers worldwide, especially for those from underrepresented communities. Anastatia’s success sends a powerful message that space is not just for a select few trained astronauts or the extremely wealthy but can be a realm of discovery for a diverse range of people.

Anastatia’s background as a student of philosophy and physics at Aberdeen University also highlights the evolving nature of education and career paths leading to space travel. Unlike traditional astronauts who underwent years of specialized training, Anastatia represents a new generation of space travelers whose journey into space stems from a blend of academic interest and serendipitous opportunity. This shift opens up new possibilities for how future astronauts and space tourists might come from various educational and professional backgrounds.

Moreover, the story of Anastatia and her mother traveling to space reflects the human aspect of space exploration. It brings a personal touch to a field often dominated by technical jargon and mechanical feats. Their journey emphasizes the emotional and experiential dimensions of space travel, underscoring the profound impact such experiences can have on individuals and their relationships.

A Symbol of Diverse Representation in Space

Anastatia’s achievement also symbolizes a milestone in gender and racial representation in space exploration. As a young black woman, her journey to space is a significant step in diversifying an area that has historically been dominated by male astronauts from a handful of countries. It challenges stereotypes and opens doors for more young women and people of color to envision themselves in roles that were once considered out of reach.

Her participation in this mission is not just a personal triumph but also a part of a larger movement toward democratizing space travel. Virgin Galactic’s initiative to make space accessible through commercial flights and lottery-based ticket systems is a step towards breaking down the barriers of cost and exclusivity that have long governed space exploration.

The story of Anastatia Mayers is a fusion of science, adventure, and inspiration. It demonstrates the evolving nature of space travel, where opportunities are expanding beyond the traditional astronaut corps to students, enthusiasts, and ordinary people with extraordinary dreams. Her journey serves as a reminder that the realm of space, once the exclusive domain of a select few, is slowly opening its doors to a more diverse and inclusive range of explorers.

In conclusion, Anastatia Mayers’ voyage to space is more than a record-setting event. It’s a symbol of progress in the fields of space exploration and human potential. Her story is a testament to the power of dreams, the importance of inclusive opportunities, and the endless possibilities that await us beyond our planet. As space travel continues to evolve, it will undoubtedly pave the way for more such inspiring journeys, changing our perception of who can be an astronaut and what it means to explore the final frontier.

Video: Galactic 02 [Virgin Galactic’s second commercial spaceflight]

This spaceflight carried Anastatia Mayers, the youngest person to go to space.

August 10 in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration history

• 1966: The first photograph of Earth from the Moon’s orbit was taken
• 2023: Anastatia Mayers became the youngest person to go to space
• Anastatia Mayers on Wikipedia
• Galactic 02 on Wikipedia
• Astronaut bio: Anastatia Mayers on the Virgin Galactic website
• Virgin Galactic Completes First Private Astronaut Spaceflight ‘Galactic 02’ on the Virgin Galactic website
• Galactic 02 Press Kit on the Virgin Galactic website
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Watch CBS News

An 18-year-old will fly to space with Jeff Bezos — becoming the youngest ever to launch

By Sophie Lewis

Updated on: July 15, 2021 / 11:38 AM EDT / CBS News

When billionaire Jeff Bezos launches himself into space on July 20, he'll be joined by a teenage physics student. The 18-year-old passenger, Oliver Daemen, will become the youngest person ever to fly to space.

Daemen will take the seat that had been expected to go to the anonymous $28 million winning bidder of an  online auction , Bezos' space company Blue Origin announced Thursday. It said the auction winner had a scheduling conflict and will fly on a later mission instead. 

Along with Bezos and Daemen, the launch of the New Shepard spacecraft will carry Bezos' brother Mark and legendary aviation pioneer  Wally Funk , who at 82 years old will become the oldest person to travel to space. 

Daemen, who graduated from high school last year and will attend the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands to study physics and innovation management in the fall, will be the first paying customer on board the Blue Origin  rocket.

Welcome to the crew, Oliver! We’re grateful to have you as our first customer to mark the beginning of commercial operations. #NSFirstHumanFlight https://t.co/gwZ6qBOFpi pic.twitter.com/SuOwxe2353 — Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 15, 2021

"This marks the beginning of commercial operations for New Shepard, and Oliver represents a new generation of people who will help us build a road to space." Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said in a statement. 

The company said that the flight will "fulfill a lifelong dream for Oliver, who has been fascinated by space, the moon, and rockets since he was four." 

The teen is not related to the auction winner and is a paying customer, the company told CBS News. It did not say how much Daemen or his family paid for the seat. He participated in the initial auction, securing a seat on the rocket's second flight, but was bumped up to the first flight when the seat became available. 

"I am super excited to go to space," Daemen said in a Twitter video . "I've been dreaming about this all my life and I will become the youngest astronaut ever because I'm 18 years old. I am super excited to experience zero-G and see the world from above." 

BlueOrigin NS-16: Here's a video clip of Oliver Daemen talking about his upcoming spaceflight: https://t.co/dPHk2p3Xqr — William Harwood (@cbs_spacenews) July 15, 2021

The New Shepard capsule was designed and built by Blue Origin to carry space tourists, researchers and experiments on  short-up-and-down flights  to the edge of space. The company has carried out 15 test flights of the rocket and capsule, all of them unpiloted and successful, except for a booster landing mishap on the very first flight.

The crew will experience about three minutes of weightlessness during the 10-to-12-minute flight, enjoying remarkable views of Earth before returning home.

William Harwood contributed reporting.

• Blue Origin

Sophie Lewis is a social media manager and trending content writer for CBS News.

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Virgin Galactic Flies Its First Tourists to Space — Including a Mother-daughter Duo and Former Olympian

Onboard the momentous flight was Anastasia Mayers, an 18-year-old college student from Antigua who became the youngest person to ever go into space.

Virgin Galactic

Shortly after dawn, the sun crept over the hanger of Spaceport America, the first purpose-built commercial spaceport in the world. The golden sand and jagged cliffs reflected off the building’s shiny glass facade, and a rugged New Mexico landscape came into focus. 

Later that morning, the spaceship VSS Unity rocketed into space (and back), bringing Virgin Galactic’s first paying customers into the cosmos. For about 90 minutes, the three private passengers and three Virgin crew who embarked on the “Galactic 02” mission soared 300,000 feet above Earth, a precious blue jewel amidst sheer blackness, at three times the speed of sound. The event was nearly 20 years in the making for the ambitious space tourism company first founded by Richard Branson in 2004.  

Onboard the momentous, majority-women flight was Anastasia Mayers, an 18-year-old college student who became the youngest person to ever go into space. Keisha Schahaff, 46, flew alongside Mayers, making the two the first mother-daughter duo and Caribbean natives to make the journey beyond Earth’s limits. 

“The fact that I am here, the first to travel to space from Antigua, shows that space really is becoming more accessible,” Schahaff told Travel + Leisure before the flight launch at the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert. “When I was two years old, just looking up to the skies, I thought, ‘How can I get there?’ But, being from the Caribbean, I didn’t see how something like this would be possible.” 

In 2022, Schahaff won a competition as part of a charity raffle for Space for Humanity, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing access to the transformative view from space, a phenomenon known as the “Overview Effect.” With two seats, Schahaff elected to bring her daughter, Anastasia. Tickets for Virgin Galactic’s flights are currently priced at a sky-high $450,000 per seat, but the company aims to eventually bring the cost down once spacecraft are produced at scale in several years — and to work with partners like Space for Humanity.  

Joining the mother-daughter team inside Unity was Jon Goodwin, an 80-year-old former British Olympian battling Parkinson’s, who had been awaiting the experience since he purchased a ticket in September of 2005. “I'm hoping that I can instill in other people around the world, especially people with Parkinson's, that an illness doesn’t have to stop you from doing things,” Goodwin said in a post-flight interview. 

With several months of astronaut training under their belts, the three passengers arrived in New Mexico in the days leading up to the Galactic 02 mission. The bespoke astronaut facility, with a futuristic Tron-like entrance and luxurious digs, is where Schahaff, Mayers, and Goodwin familiarized themselves with the flight experience. There’s even a full-size replica of the Unity spaceship. 

While Unity might appear to be an ordinary plane from a distance — even taking off and landing like one — it’s anything but normal. And instead of a traditional rocket launch from the ground, the vessel embarks on its suborbital journey from mid-air at 44,000 feet. Once aloft, Unity detaches from its mated mothership, separate rocket motors fire, and those aboard can experience zero gravity and suborbital views from 17 windows in the cabin. After several minutes, the vehicle re-enters Earth’s atmosphere before effortlessly gliding back onto the runway that it initially came from. 

“That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done,” Schahaff said shortly after re-emerging from VSS Unity to a crowd of friends, family, and media. “I’ve been to space and back with my daughter. Antigua went to space!” Indeed, it was a watershed moment for the Caribbean nation with both Schahaff and Mayers the country’s pride and joy. A contingent of Antiguan officials cheered live from Spaceport, waving flags throughout the morning, while thousands more watched from afar. Prime Minister Gaston Alfonso Browne hosted a public viewing party in Antigua with Richard Branson and over 200 students, all enrolled in specialized STEM programs, in attendance. 

Schahaff brought a few pieces of home more than 50 miles up. That included a variety of keepsakes and mementos stored in the pockets of her astronaut spacesuit. “I took Antigua and Barbuda’s pink sand, our flag, and my favorite shells,” she said. 

Meanwhile, Goodwin and his wife, Pauline, embraced on the runway following his safe return onto solid ground. “This is without a doubt the most exciting day of my life,” he admitted to a crowd of onlookers. 

“This flight highlights two of Virgin Galactic’s core aspirations — increasing access to space and inspiring people around the world,” said Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic. “Watching Keisha, Ana, and Jon embark on this transformative experience helps demonstrate that space is now opening to a broader and more diverse population across the globe.”

Fewer than 700 humans have traveled above the Earth’s atmosphere into space , and Virgin Galactic has approximately 800 people from 60 different countries in its Future Astronaut community. While its tourism flights are the ones that get the most attention, the company also flies researchers into space to conduct experiments. In fact, in June, a research mission with the Italian Air Force and National Research Council of Italy became Virgin Galactic’s first commercial flight ever. Virgin plans to conduct one private space flight every four weeks for the foreseeable future, likely until its next-generation spacecraft launch in 2026. 

Just after 8:30 a.m. MT on Aug. 10, 2023, VSS Eve took to the skies from Spaceport America. But Schahaff says the experience is going to be ingrained in her and her daughter’s minds forever: “I’m still up there, I’m still up in space.” 

Related Articles

Meet Oliver Daemen, the Dutch teenager who just flew on Jeff Bezos' spaceflight and became the youngest person ever to reach space

• Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands, just flew on Jeff Bezos' spaceflight.
• Daemen was Blue Origin's first paying customer and replaced the anonymous auction winner.
• Daemen has a pilots license, is fascinated by space, and will go to college for physics this fall.

Oliver Daemen just made history as the youngest person to travel to space.

On Tuesday, the Dutch teen joined Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, Bezos' brother Mark , and aviator Wally Funk aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft, which carried human passengers for the first time ever . 

Daemen, who is currently 18, was Blue Origin's first paying customer — he bid for the seat at an auction last month, ultimately losing out to an anonymous bidder who paid $28 million for the opportunity. But Daemen is flying in that passenger's place after "scheduling conflicts" arose, Blue Origin said in a blog post on Thursday. 

In a video posted to Twitter before the launch, Daemen said he was "super excited" to go into space. 

"I've been dreaming about this all my life," he said. "I am super excited to experience zero-g and see the world from above." 

—Bright (@Bright) July 15, 2021

Read more: As Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson blast off, here are 11 of the most exciting space startups according to VCs

Related stories

So who is Oliver Daemen and how did he become a passenger on the Bezos' spaceflight? Here's what we know.

Daemen is the son of Joes Daemen, the CEO of a private equity firm

Joes Daemen founded Somerset Capital Partners, a real estate private equity firm, in 2005. The firm is based in Oisterwijk, Netherlands. 

According to  CNBC , Daemen participated in the auction and had already secured a seat on Blue Origin's second flight, but the company "moved him up" when the auction winner deferred. Daemen's father paid for the seat, though the company hasn't disclosed how much he paid, CNBC reports. 

He'll be a college freshman in the fall

Daemen graduated high school in 2020 and took a gap year — beginning this September, he'll attend the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands where he'll study physics and innovation management, according to Blue Origin. 

He's a fan of underwater adventures and water sports

If Daemen's Instagram account is any indication, he's spent much of his free time on the water. Over the years, he's posted pictures of himself snorkeling, surfing, and wakeboarding. 

He's rubbed elbows with Dutch celebrities

Daemen posted a photo to his Instagram account in 2018 of him, his sister, DJ Martin Garrix, and Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen.

He's fascinated with flight and outer space

Daemen spent his gap year working on getting his pilots license, and this trip to space is the culmination of a lifelong interest, according to Blue Origin.  

"Flying on New Shepard will fulfill a lifelong dream for Oliver, who has been fascinated by space, the Moon, and rockets since he was four," the company said. 

Watch: Watch Jeff Bezos reveal Blue Origin's detailed plan for colonizing space

• Main content

Blue Origin flight to rocket youngest person ever into space

An 18-year-old is poised to become the youngest person in space after Blue Origin said that Oliver Daemen will be launching with founder Jeff Bezos on Tuesday.

An 18-year-old is about to become the youngest person in space, rocketing away with an aviation pioneer who will become the oldest at age 82.

Blue Origin announced Thursday that instead of an auction winner launching with founder Jeff Bezos on Tuesday, Oliver Daemen will be on board. The company said he’ll be the first paying customer, but did not disclose the cost of his ticket.

Keep reading

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Also soaring on Blue Origin’s first launch with passengers: Bezos’s brother and Wally Funk, one of 13 female pilots who went through the same training in the early 1960s as NASA’s Mercury 7 astronauts did, but were rejected for being women.

The four will blast off from West Texas in the United States atop a New Shepard rocket for a 10-minute flight.

According to Blue Origin, Daemen took a year off after high school to obtain his private pilot’s license. He’ll attend Utrecht University in the Netherlands in September.

“This marks the beginning of commercial operations for New Shepard, and Oliver represents a new generation of people who will help us build a road to space,” Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said in a statement.

Welcome to the crew, Oliver! We’re grateful to have you as our first customer to mark the beginning of commercial operations. #NSFirstHumanFlight https://t.co/gwZ6qBOFpi pic.twitter.com/SuOwxe2353 — Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 15, 2021

Blue Origin said the yet-to-be-identified winner of the $28m charity auction is stepping aside because of a scheduling conflict and will catch a future flight.

Bezos will become the second person to ride his own rocket into space, following Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson by nine days.

Soviet cosmonaut Ghermon Titov holds the record for the youngest to fly in space. He was 25 when he blasted into orbit four months after Yuri Gagarin, who became the first person in space in 1961. John Glenn was 77 when he launched aboard space shuttle Discovery in 1998, 37 years after becoming the first American to orbit the world in 1962.

18-year-old customer on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket to be youngest person ever in space

Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin announced its first paying customer, who at 18 years old will also be the youngest person to travel to space.

Dutch teenager Oliver Daemen will join the Amazon founder, his brother, Mark Bezos, and pilot Wally Funk when they launch into space aboard the New Shepard rocket July 20.

When Daemen becomes the youngest astronaut, Funk, 82, will become the oldest.

Funk, a pilot and flight instructor , was part of Mercury 13, a group of female pilots who underwent testing to determine whether women could handle space travel. While the female pilots went through the same studies in the early 1960s as NASA’s Mercury 7 astronauts did, they were rejected for being women.

Funk will break the age record set by the astronaut and senator John Glenn, who traveled back to space in 1998 at the age of 77. Daemen will break the record set by the Soviet cosmonaut Ghermon Titov, who was 25 when he blasted into orbit four months after Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space.

Welcome to the crew, Oliver! We’re grateful to have you as our first customer to mark the beginning of commercial operations. #NSFirstHumanFlight https://t.co/gwZ6qBOFpi pic.twitter.com/SuOwxe2353 — Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 15, 2021

The Federal Aviation Administration approved the launch Monday , just a day after British billionaire Richard Branson flew to the edge of space aboard a rocket-powered vehicle developed by his own space tourism company, Virgin Galactic.

Virgin Galactic also plans to start flying paying customers to space.

Daemen secured the position after the original $28 million winner of Blue Origin's auction for the spot — who remains anonymous — chose a later mission "due to scheduling conflicts," according to the company.

“We thank the auction winner for their generous support of Club for the Future and are honored to welcome Oliver to fly with us on New Shepard,” Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said. “This marks the beginning of commercial operations for New Shepard, and Oliver represents a new generation of people who will help us build a road to space.”

Oliver Daemen: "I am super excited to be going to space and joining" Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, and Wally Funk on the first Blue Origin crewed flight. https://t.co/RlW3GGdOMC video via @bright pic.twitter.com/BwOj2EmfXX — Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) July 15, 2021

A Blue origin spokesperson told CNBC that Daemen "was a participant in the auction and had secured a seat on the second flight.”

“We moved him up when this seat on the first flight became available,” the spokesperson said.

The company told CNBC that Daemen is the son of Somerset Capital Partners CEO Joes Daemen, who paid for the seat. The price has not been disclosed.

Download the NBC News app for breaking news

Daemen has been fascinated by space since he was a child, according to Blue Origin. After taking a gap year to get his private pilot's license, he plans to attend the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands to study physics and innovation management in the fall.

"I am super excited to be going to space," the teenager said in a video posted to Twitter. "I've been dreaming about this all my life."

Elisha Fieldstadt is a breaking news editor for NBC News.

• Entertainment

9 Youngest Astronauts to Ever Go to Space

It’s a universal truth that as a human race, we can’t help but gaze and look upon the night sky in wonderment. With stars so abundant that even every grain of sand on every beach couldn’t match its number, we’d ask our parents’ about life’s meaningful questions. Who’s out there? Are we alone? The universe is the physical embodiment of our own mortality. Every time we look up, even as kids, it confronts us with our own lives and makes us recognize what a gift it is to share just a brief moment of consciousness on a universal time scale that is practically incomprehensible. As insignificant as it can make you feel, it also reminds us how incredibly unique our planet and the things that inhabit it are.

These universal questions are the catalyst for exploration. All it took was a look at the sky and it called to our basic need for adventure. That’s why today we’re going to be looking at the youngest 21 st -century explorers. They, just like us, asked the questions we asked as children, time and time again until it took them into the great beyond itself in search of the answers to life’s most important questions.

9. Sultan bin Salman Al-Saud

Age: 28 Space Flight: STS-51-G Nationality: Saudi Arabian Alma mater: University of Denver/Syracuse University

Sultan bin Salman Al-Saud was a 28-year-old Saudi Arabian astronaut who served as a payload specialist on board the American STS-51-G Space Shuttle . He carries a few of “the first” distinctions which include, the first member of a royal family to enter space, the youngest on board the shuttle, and the first Arab/Muslim to ever fly into space.

Sultan, the son of the King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, was a former Royal Saudi Air Force pilot and graduate of the University of Denver and Syracuse University .

Did You Know?

To add to his storied career, Sultan has written several books. He’s assisted in the creation of the Association of Space Explorers .   That is a non-profit which brings together astronauts and cosmonauts from all over the world who’ve reached space to collaborate with the brightest minds in the field. Sultan is the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Space Commission .

8. Valery Bykovsky

Age: 28 Space Flight: Vostok 5 Nationality: Russian Alma mater: Kachinsk Military Aviation Academy

Valery Bykovsky was only 28-years-old was a Soviet cosmonaut. He flew his first of three missions in the Vostok 5 Space Shuttle on June 14 th , 1963. During his service time on the ship, he was responsible for conducting experiments, photographing Earth’s horizon, and documenting the growth of peas in space.

Similar to many astronauts, Bykovsky was a jet fighter pilot at just 25. His total time in space was 20 days, 17 hours, and 48 minutes. That might be a little claustrophobic but it still probably beats a desk job. That duration in space is still the endurance record for a solo space flight!

During orbit, Bykovsky was officially made a member of the communist party.

7. Dumitru Prunariu

Age: 28 Space Flight: Soyuz 40 Nationality: Romanian Alma mater: University of Bucharest

Dumitru Prunariu is a Romanian-born aviator, engineer, and diplomat. He was also just 28-years-old when he took part in an eight-day joint space flight with Russian cosmonaut Leonid Popov on the Soyuz 40 . His go-ahead on the historic flight came on the heels of his high marks on exams during three years of preparation. No one scored higher in his entire class.

Both Dumitru and Leonid spent nearly eight days onboard and conducted experiments in astrophysics, space technology, space radiation, space medicine, and biology. He’s been decorated with awards such as Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania.

Dumitru is another founding member of the Association of Space Explorers, which has over 400 members from 36 different countries who have flown into outer space. He’s the 103 rd human to fly into space.

6. Helen Sharman

Age: 27 Space Flight: Soyuz TM-12 Nationality: British Alma mater: University of Sheffield, University of London

Helen Sharman was 27-years-old when she boarded the Soyuz TM-12. She may not hold the mantle of the youngest astronaut in space, but she is the first British cosmonaut and the first Western European woman in space. Her story leading up to her mission made waves nationally and is fit for its own Hollywood movie.

Sharman responded to radio advertisements asking for applicants to try out and become the first British space-explorer. After a daunting selection process, she was picked for her mission live on television in November 1989, beating out almost 13,000 other applicants. It was to be a joint mission between the Soviets and British, called Project Juno .

For her pioneering efforts and blazing the trail for future British space-explorers, Helen Sharman was awarded the bronze, silver, and gold medals of the Royal Aero Club . There’s also a school in Assen, Netherlands, named the Helen Sharman School in her honor.

5. Yuri Gagarin

Age: 27 Space Flight: Vostok 1 Nationality: Russian Alma mater: Industrial Technical School in Saratov

Yuri Gagarin was 27-years-old when he launched into space aboard the Vostok 1 on April 12 th , 1961 . The mission proved was a triumph for the Soviet Union. It turned Gagarin into a national hero. Nikita Kruschev personally awarded him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Gagarin tragically passed away along with his flight instructor, Vladimir Seryogin, after their aircraft crashed by Kirzhach. There have been many conspiracies regarding the circumstances surrounding their deaths since which led to three separate investigations were run by the Air Force, government commissions, and the KGB.

Ultimately, the reason for the crash was attributed to outdated weather information given by air-traffic control, causing a sharp maneuver to avoid entry into a potentially dangerous cloud cover which sent the craft into a stall. Gagarin’s ashes were placed within the walls of the Kremlin .

4. Boris Yegorov

Age: 26 Space Flight: Voskhod Nationality: Russian Alma mater: First Moscow Medical Institute

Boris Yegorov was a 26-years-old physician and cosmonaut . With his journey into space on the Voskhod, he marks the first doctor to make a space flight. During his studies in medicine, he got acquainted and took inspiration from Yuri Gagarin’s training for his mission and decided space medicine was a field of interest he’d like to explore.

Yegorov, achieving anything he set his focus towards, was selected as a part of the team to fly on Voskhod 1. He was given the Hero of the Soviet Union award in October 1964.

Among the several decorations he’s received , the most notable include Order of the Lenin, Order of the Red Banner of Labour, and Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.

3. Valentina Tereshkova

Age: 26 Space Flight: Vostok 6 Nationality: Russian Alma mater: Light Industry Technical School

Valentina Tereshkova was 26-years-old when she flew her solo mission on the Vostok 6 on June 16 th , 1963. That makes her the first, only, and youngest woman to embark on a solo mission to this day. Spending nearly 72 hours in space, she took a round trip around the Earth 48 times.

Vostok 6 was the final flight of its fleet and embarked just two days after Vostok 5. The two spacecraft spent a few days in close orbit to one another at just 30 degrees apart.

Valentina has stayed politically active following her space career even after the collapse of the Soviet Union. As recently as September 2016, she was re-elected to the 7 th State Duma and is deputy chairperson of the Committee on the Federal Structure and Local Government.

2. Gherman Titov

Age: 25 Space Flight: Vostok 2 Nationality: Russian Alma mater: Stalingrad Military Aviation School

Gherman Titov Is technically the youngest astronaut to travel into space at 25-years-old. When 2021 came around he was surpassed by a Dutch teen who deserves an honorable mention and who we’ll cover next. He spent one day and one hour in space aboard the Vostok 2.

Titov has received numerous awards like his contemporaries on this list, including Hero of the Soviet Union and two Orders of Lenin.

On August 6 th , 2011, the 50 th anniversary of his flight, the Gherman Titov Museum was opened in his home village of Polkovnikovo, Altai Krai.

1. Oliver Daemen

Age: 18 Space Flight: Blue Origin NS-16 Nationality: Dutch Alma mater: N/A

Oliver Daemen is the youngest person to travel into space at just 18-years-old!

Daemen is classified as a space tourist and flew as part of the Blue Origin NS-16 mission, helmed by famed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos . He obtained his high school diploma in 2020 and is enrolled at Utrecht University . He studies Science and Innovation Management.

If you’re wondering how on Earth he reserved this highly coveted once-in-a-lifetime ticket, he secured it through an auction. It makes him the first paying customer to travel into the dark abyss.

Daemen wasn’t the original winner of the auction , but because the other party chose to take a different future flight, he was the next man up. The rest is history!

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The Youngest Person In Space Is A Black Girl

Of course the youngest person to go to space is a black girl.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic)

I was fascinated by the other planets, specifically by the realisation that we weren't the only things out there. It's comforting to know that we aren't the only organisms living within this vast universe. But before we can understand anything or anyone else, anything bigger than ourselves, we need to first understand ourselves.

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Oliver Daemen is the youngest person to fly to space in Blue Origin spacecraft

Daemen is not the anonymous bidder who paid $28 million for a ticket in an online auction as they will fly on a future mission due to a scheduling conflict.

Editor’s Note: This story was first published on 16 July 2021 and has been republished as Jeff Bezos and the Blue Origin crew will be launched into space today.

Blue Origin said Thursday an 18-year-old paying customer will fly to space on the company’s maiden crewed spaceflight on July 20, becoming the youngest ever astronaut.

Oliver Daemen, who graduated from high school last year and holds a private pilot’s license, joins Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, the tycoon’s brother Mark and barrier-breaking female aviator Wally Funk as the fourth member of the crew.

He is not, however, the winner of a $28 million auction followed keenly by space enthusiasts, who has asked to remain anonymous and will fly on a future mission because of a scheduling conflict, the company said.

“This marks the beginning of commercial operations for New Shepard, and Oliver represents a new generation of people who will help us build a road to space,” said Bob Smith, CEO of Blue Origin.

New Shepard, named for the first American astronaut in space, Alan Shepard, is Blue Origin’s reusable rocket system.

Smith also thanked the auction winner for their support of Club for the Future, Blue Origin’s foundation which this week announced it was donating $1 million to 19 nonprofits that promote science and engineering.

Flying on New Shepard will fulfill a lifelong dream for Daemen, who has been fascinated by space, the Moon, and rockets since he was four, a statement said.

He plans to attend the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands to study physics and innovation management this September.

The company did not disclose Daemen’s nationality, but his Instagram, which had pictures of him enjoying activities like surfing, kiteboarding and diving, features comments mainly in Dutch.

The ticket price has not been disclosed.

At 18 and 82, Daemen and Funk will be the youngest and oldest astronauts to travel to space.

Space tourism lifts off

Bezos, the richest person in the world, is hoping to join Richard Branson in reaching space on a vessel built by a company he founded.

Branson achieved the feat on a Virgin Galactic spaceship on Sunday, a landmark moment for the nascent space tourism industry.

Though Bezos will go second, Blue Origin has boasted its experience is superior.

Blue Origin’s rocket breaks the internationally-recognized boundary of space at an altitude of 100 kilometres, while Virgin Galactic breached the 50-mile border that is recognized by the United States.

New Shepard reusable rockets, which launch vertically from the ground, are more eco-friendly than Virgin Galactic’s air-launched spaceplane, which emits greenhouse gases and soot.

Blue Origin’s ambitions also extend far beyond space tourism, with the company vying to become a major contractor for NASA missions.

Currently, NASA’s leading private sector partner is Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which began taking astronauts to the International Space Station in 2020 and is developing a deep-space rocket for future missions to Mars.

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Scientists probe a space mystery: Why do people age faster during space travel?

Research finds bodies in space were stressed and showed dramatic signs of aging during the journey. but 95% of the indicators studied returned to normal within a few months..

Humanity's future may involve getting to a planet other than Earth ‒ but first people will have to survive the journey. That's why in a new series of papers scientists explore the impact of space travel on the human body from skin to kidneys to immune cells to genes.

Four civilian astronauts allowed themselves to be researched from top to bottom as they circled in low-Earth orbit for three days aboard the 2021 SpaceX Inspiration4 mission and then returned to their normal lives.

One of the most important observations was that although their bodies were stressed and showed dramatic signs of aging during the journey, 95% of the indicators studied returned to normal within a few months.

Radiation exposure apparently causes the acceleration of disease and damages cells "even in three to five days," Susan Bailey, a co-author on many of the studies and a radiation cancer biologist at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, said in a Monday video call with reporters.

Space news: Starship splashes down for first time in 4th test

Bailey and other scientists have studied astronauts before, most famously, identical twins Scott and Mark Kelly, during and after most of the 520 days Scott spent in space. ( Mark is now a senator from Arizona , choosing to run for political office after his wife, Congresswoman Gabby Giffords , now a gun control advocate , was shot in the head by a constituent.)

But this collection of studies, published Tuesday in Nature and related journals , shows the impact of space travel both on more people and also on a more diverse group, not just the exclusive people who can pass NASA's rigorous selection process.

Hayley Arceneaux , for instance, a physician assistant who served as the mission's medical director, was treated for cancer at age 10 and was one of the rare women in space. At 29, Arceneaux was also the youngest-ever space traveler.

Each of the four members of Inspiration4 represented a different decade of life, and began to provide the kind of diversity that will be crucial to understanding how space travel may impact people of different ages and health status and with different lived experiences, the researchers said.

"It really provides the foundation as we think ahead and more futuristically," Bailey said. The papers, she said, encouraged her and her peers to "think a little bit more about what it's really going to take for people to live in space for long periods of time, to thrive, to reproduce. How is all of that really going to happen?"

Bailey spent months studying the biology of the space travelers. But Monday's video conference was the first time she'd seen them face-to-face. "I'm familiar with your DNA," she told Arceneaux and fellow space traveler Chris Sembroski. "But it's nice to meet you."

Better understanding the damage that accumulates and how the body adapts to space travel will also lead researchers to treatments and fixes, said Bailey and the two other co-authors on the call, Christopher Mason, professor of genomics, physiology, and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, and Afshin Beheshti, an expert in bioinformatics at Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle.

In addition to age-related diseases, the papers revealed other problems space travelers can develop, like kidney stones. "Here we can treat that, but a kidney stone halfway to Mars, how are you going to treat that?" Beheshti wondered aloud. "That wasn't on the radar before" these papers.

"As we start to unravel some of this," Bailey added, "we'll improve not only our ability to deal with radiation exposure but also be addressing some of these age-related pathologies like cardiovascular disease that certainly could influence astronauts' performance en route to Mars."

Another insight: Women seem to recover faster from space damage than men, though Mason cautioned that more women need to be studied to better understand the effect and that faster recovery could come at the expense of higher long-term risk of breast and lung cancer from extended radiation exposure.

The lessons learned from space travelers could help folks on Earth, too, the researchers said.

Learning how to keep cells safe from radiation, for instance, might be transferable to help minimize damage to cancer patients undergoing radiation treatments, Mason said.

New protection measures could also be useful for people exposed to radiation at work or in case of a nuclear reactor disaster like the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan after the 2011 earthquake there.

Because space travel speeds up aging, learning how to reverse or slow that process could help "extend health-span for us mere earthlings as well," Bailey said. The new skin study, for example, suggests approaches that might be used to help people keep their skin looking younger longer.

"There's all kinds of things that could potentially benefit people on Earth," she said.

The Inspiration4 mission, which raised $250 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis , Tennessee, also relied on some experimental technologies for recording medical information, including a handheld ultrasound imaging device, smartwatch wearables, a measurement device to check for eye alignment and new methods for profiling the immune system as well as other cells and molecules.

These devices and approaches could be useful for Earth-bound settings that are far from major urban medical centers, Mason said.

Relying on civilians rather than NASA astronauts also made it easier to study the space travelers, who signed waivers and aren't subject to government regulations, he said. Their data will be made available to other researchers.

Both Arceneaux and Sembroski, a data engineer who works for the space technologies company Blue Origin, said they loved their spaceflight and would do it again in a second if given the chance. But they also hope many others are given the same opportunity.

"We're not going to see the civilization in space that we want without people being willing to share that experience," Sembroski said about sharing his data for research. "It was fun to be part of this."

"Our mission had, not only a lot of heart behind it," Arceneaux added, "but we really wanted to make a scientific impact."

Arceneaux said she doesn't mind the mark left by the biopsy used to study how her skin reacted to space travel. "I love my space scar!" she said.

"Better than a tattoo," Bailey responded.

The best news from the research on both Kelly and the Inspiration4 travelers, Mason said, is that there's "no show-stopper. There's no reason we shouldn't be able to get to Mars and back."

Radiation exposure probably means people shouldn't be taking multiple trips to and from the red planet, he said. But "so far, from all we've observed, the body is successfully adapting to the space environment."

Karen Weintraub can be reached at [email protected].

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'The Sky's Not Even The Limit': Cancer Survivor To Become Youngest American In Space

Rachel Treisman

A photo provided by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital shows Hayley Arceneaux at the hospital in Memphis, Tenn. It announced on Monday that Arceneaux, a former patient and current employee, will be one of four crew members on the first all-civilian space flight this year. Mike Brown/American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital via AP hide caption

A photo provided by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital shows Hayley Arceneaux at the hospital in Memphis, Tenn. It announced on Monday that Arceneaux, a former patient and current employee, will be one of four crew members on the first all-civilian space flight this year.

Hayley Arceneaux, 29, became a physician assistant at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital nearly a year ago, almost two decades after beating pediatric cancer there herself. Now, she's set to reach new heights as the youngest American — and first with a prosthesis — to travel to space.

St. Jude announced on Monday that Arceneaux will be one of four crew members on the world's first all-civilian mission to space, which is called Inspiration4 and is tentatively set to take off at the end of 2021. The Memphis, Tenn. native, who was treated for bone cancer at the hospital as a child, called the opportunity an "incredible honor."

"When I was just 10 years old, St. Jude gave me the opportunity to grow up," she said. "Now I am fulfilling my dreams of working at the research hospital and traveling around the world. It's incredible to be a part of this mission that is not only raising crucial funds for the lifesaving work of St. Jude but also introducing new supporters to the mission and showing cancer survivors that anything is possible."

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hayley Arceneaux(@hayleyarc)

Earlier this month, trip commander Jared Isaacman — a 38-year-old tech entrepreneur, billionaire and pilot — announced that he had bought the flight from SpaceX and would donate the three other seats to members of the general public, with the goal of raising $200 million for St. Jude.

Arceneaux will occupy the mission seat representing the pillar of hope. The remaining two , representing "generosity" and "prosperity," are available through Feb. 28 and will go to one individual who donates to St. Jude and an entrepreneur who uses Isaacman's payment processing company Shift4Payments.

Spacecraft Named For 'Hidden Figures' Mathematician Launches From Virginia

Arceneaux will become the youngest American in space, according to The Associated Press , edging out pioneering astronaut Sally Ride , who was 32 when she became the first American woman to launch in 1983.

She will also be the first American with a prosthesis in space, having had surgery at age 10 to replace her knee and get a titanium rod in her left thigh bone, the AP reported. She has been cleared for flight by SpaceX and will serve as the crew's medical officer.

"My battle with cancer really prepared me for space travel," Arceneaux told the AP. "It made me tough, and then also I think it really taught me to expect the unexpected and go along for the ride."

In an interview with NBC's TODAY, Arceneaux said she never thought she would be able to go to space, noting that "until this mission you really had to be physically perfect." But when the call came "out of the blue" from St. Jude, asking if she wanted to go to space, the avid traveler, roller coaster-lover and lifelong space fan said yes immediately.

“I never thought I’d able to go to space… this mission is changing things.” Hayley Arceneaux, a 29-year-old cancer survivor who has been selected as a civilian member of the @SpaceX Inspiration4 crew, joins us for her first official interview as a civilian astronaut. pic.twitter.com/kJucPacAma — TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 22, 2021

She made sure to run it past her mother, as well as her brother and sister-in-law, who are both aerospace engineers and reassured her about the safety of space travel, the AP reported.

'I'm Safe On Mars.' NASA'S New Rover To Scour Ancient Lake Bed For Life Signs

Officials involved in the two missions — launching civilians to space and fighting pediatric cancer — applauded Arceneaux's selection on Monday.

In a tweet, Isaacman called Arceneaux an inspiration not just to aspiring astronauts, but for "all people who need hope when encountering life challenges."

Meet commercial astronaut Hayley Arceneaux. She is an amazing person & I know she will be an inspiration to people all over the 🌍. Not just those w/ dreams of going to 🚀, but to all people who need hope when encountering life challenges . Hayley, welcome to @inspiration4x pic.twitter.com/t02LFuU7mm — Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) February 22, 2021

And Richard Shadyac Jr., president and CEO of St. Jude's fundraising and awareness organization American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, praised her work in the pediatric cancer community.

"It has been a personal honor to watch Hayley grow up and fulfill her dreams. As a patient, an intern at ALSAC, and then in the Pediatric Oncology Education program at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, she was always a rising star," Shadyac said. "She will be an incredible ambassador through this mission and inspiration to children fighting cancer and survivors worldwide."

According to St. Jude , Arceneaux — who described her job as her "ultimate life dream come true" when she accepted it just under a year ago — plans to devote much of her time on the mission to interacting with hospital patients through video chats or video messages.

Arceneaux said she can't wait to talk to her patients about going to space as a cancer survivor, as her experience will show them that they "don't have to limit themselves."

"I really hope to show them that the sky's not even the limit, that they can do anything," she said.

The mission crew will undergo comprehensive training, stress testing and mission simulations provided by SpaceX, the company said . They are set to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and orbit Earth every 90 minutes along a customized flight path during their multi-day journey before re-entering Earth's atmosphere for a soft water landing off the Florida coast.

• pediatric cancer
• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
• Inspiration4
• Hayley Arceneaux

Oliver Daemen Height, Age, Girlfriend, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Oliver Daemen

Oliver Daemen while holding a glass of alcohol

• Oliver Daemen is a Dutch teenage physics student who joined Jeff Bezos , a billionaire, into space on 20 July 2021. Oliver Daemen became the youngest person ever to fly to space and the fourth crew member of the flight.
• Jeff  Bezos’ ‘Blue Origin’ space company announced on 15 July 2021 that Oliver Daemen won the online bidding and reserved his seat for space.

A screenshot of a video Instagrammed by Oliver in which four crew are seen together

• Oliver Daemen was a high school graduate in 2020. In 2021, he joined the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands to study physics and innovation management. Oliver Daemen became the first paying customer who was on board the Blue Origin rocket on 20 July 2021.

Oliver Daemen while scuba diving

This marks the beginning of commercial operations for New Shepard, and Oliver represents a new generation of people who will help us build a road to space.”

Fulfill a lifelong dream for Oliver, who has been fascinated by space, the moon, and rockets since he was four.”

I am super excited to go to space. I’ve been dreaming about this all my life and I will become the youngest astronaut ever because I’m 18 years old. I am super excited to experience zero-G and see the world from above.”

De 18-jarige Oliver Daemen uit Tilburg wordt de jongste astronaut ooit en de vierde Nederlander in de ruimte. Hij gaat mee met de ruimtereis van #BlueOrigin van #JeffBezos . Oliver is onderweg naar Texas, waar de lancering dinsdag plaatsvindt. https://t.co/hMsJWorRQK pic.twitter.com/5Xl3mqSAJt — Bright (@Bright) July 15, 2021

• In July 2021, Blue Origin company designed ‘The New Shepard capsule’ to carry space tourists and researchers. Oliver Daemen and the other crew experience about three minutes of weightlessness during the 10-to-12-minute flight.
• In July 2021, Blue Origin said in a statement that Oliver was not the actual winning bidder of the seat. They said that the actual winner, whose name was not disclosed, skipped this flight due to “scheduling conflicts” so the company slotted Oliver Daemen. This anonymous bidder won the seat on $28 million. The company further stated that Oliver was the participant in the auction, but they did not disclose the amount Oliver Daemen paid for the seat.
• Reportedly, Oliver Daemen got his pilot’s license in his gap year of studies, and he is the son of a private equity executive. He received his Private Pilot License (2020 – 2021) from GRUPO ONE AIR AVIACION SL.

Oliver Daemen has been fascinated by space and rockets since he was 4 years old. Daemen represents a new class of spacefarers.” A Childhood picture of Oliver

We thank the auction winner for their generous support of Club for the future and are honoured to welcome Oliver to fly with us on New Shepard.”

He further added,

This marks the beginning of commercial operations for New Shepard, and Oliver represents a new generation of people who will help us build a road to space.”

The journey to and from space is only 10 minutes long, but I already know it will be the most memorable 10 minutes of my life.”

Jeff Bezos and pioneering female aviator Wally Funk emerge from their capsule after their flight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket near Van Horn, Texas, U.S., July 20, 2021

• Oliver decided to pursue a degree in physics and innovation management at Utrecht University in the Netherlands in September 2021.

I told Jeff, like, I’ve actually never bought something from Amazon.”

He further added that Jeff replied to him,

And he was like, ‘oh, wow, it’s a long time ago I heard someone say that’.”

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SpaceX astronaut to become the youngest American to orbit Earth

SpaceX has announced Hayley Arceneaux as the second crew member for its first all-civilian tourism flight that will fly four people to Earth orbit later this year.

Arceneaux’s flight is set to mark three major achievements as she’ll be the first bone cancer survivor to become an astronaut, the first person with a prosthetic body part to travel to space, and, at just 29, the youngest American ever to orbit Earth.

• Elon Musk reveals grand plan for Starship megarocket’s next test flight
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Treated as a child for bone cancer at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, she now works there as a physician assistant. Arceneaux will fly on the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission that was announced earlier this month.

The mission will be led by Shift4 Payments founder and CEO Jared Isaacman, who secured the exclusive flight in a private deal with SpaceX. The two remaining crew members are yet to be selected.

“It’s an incredible honor to join the Inspiration4 crew,” Arceneaux said following the announcement. “This seat represents the hope that St. Jude gave me — and continues to give families from around the world, who, like me, find hope when they walk through the doors of St. Jude.”

Arceneaux was diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of 10. Her treatment at St. Jude included chemotherapy, as well as surgery that replaced some of the bones in her legs with artificial ones.

“Now, I am fulfilling my dreams of working at the research hospital and traveling around the world,” Arceneaux said. “It’s incredible to be a part of this mission that is not only raising crucial funds for the lifesaving work of St. Jude, but also introducing new supporters to the mission and showing cancer survivors that anything is possible.”

Isaacman announced the selection of Arceneaux in a tweet, describing her as “an amazing person” who will be “an inspiration to people all over the world.”

Meet commercial astronaut Hayley Arceneaux. She is an amazing person & I know she will be an inspiration to people all over the ????. Not just those w/ dreams of going to ????, but to all people who need hope when encountering life challenges . Hayley, welcome to @inspiration4x pic.twitter.com/t02LFuU7mm — Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) February 22, 2021

Eager to promote St. Jude as part of the Inspiration4 mission, Isaacman has committed to giving $100 million to the hospital while encouraging others to support the facility. Fundraising efforts will continue until the launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the final quarter of this year.

The main goal of the mission is to send a humanitarian message of possibility, as well as inspire support for St. Jude, and represents the pillars of leadership, hope, generosity and prosperity.

The two remaining seats on the missions are still up for grabs — and they’re free, too. Check out this article for more information on how to apply.

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The world's most powerful rocket on the launchpad at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. SpaceX

SpaceX is itching to send its Starship rocket on its fourth test flight, with company CEO Elon Musk recently suggesting the launch could take place sometime next month.

A SpaceX Dragon capsule that’s been to orbit and back twice has gone on display at the recently renovated Henry Crown Space Center at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

In a post on social media unveiling the new exhibit, the museum noted that the reusable Cargo Dragon capsule made history in 2012 as the first commercial spacecraft to travel to the International Space Station (ISS). This particular Dragon spacecraft is the CRS-12 and took part in two ISS cargo missions, in 2017 and 2019.

An explosion occurred on Thursday at SpaceX’s test facility in McGregor, Texas, sending flames and a huge plume of smoke into the sky.

Reports from NASASpaceflight, which runs a live stream of the site, suggested it occurred during the ground-based testing of a Raptor rocket engine of the kind used by the company’s next-generation Starship rocket.

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Unconventional Sex Let Anglerfish Conquer the Deep Ocean

During a chaotic period some 50 million years ago, the strange deep-sea creatures left the ocean bottom and thrived by clamping onto their mates.

A female anglerfish, with a bioluminescent lure, in waters off Hawaii. Credit... Doug Perrine/Alamy

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By William J. Broad

• May 30, 2024

How did the ghoulish creatures known as anglerfish pull off the evolutionary feat that let them essentially take over the ocean’s sunless depths?

It took peculiar sex — extremely peculiar sex.

Scientists at Yale University have discovered that a burst of anglerfish diversification began some 50 million years ago as the ancestral line developed a bizarre strategy to ensure successful reproduction in the dark wilderness.

To mate, tiny males would clamp with sharp teeth onto the bellies of much larger females. Some males would let go after mating while others would permanently fuse into the females. The males that stayed attached became permanent organs for sperm production.

“We found that a cascade of traits, including those required for sexual parasitism, allowed anglerfishes to invade the deep sea,” Chase D. Brownstein , a graduate student in the ecology and evolutionary biology department at Yale who was the study’s lead author, said in a news release.

Today, there are more than 300 species of anglerfish, which makes them the most varied family of vertebrates in the ocean’s lightless zone. The region starts about 1,000 feet down — just beneath the photic zone, which gets enough sunlight to support photosynthesis and most of the sea’s plants — and descends for miles. The team’s study was published last week in the journal Current Biology.

Finding a mate in the deep sea can be extremely difficult because of the environment’s incomprehensibly vast size. By some estimates, the dark zone amounts to more than 97 percent of the planetary space inhabited by living things, mainly because the ocean plunges to a maximum depth of nearly seven miles. In contrast, land habitats make up less than 1 percent of the planet’s biosphere because the band of life is so narrow, making its volume quite small.

The anglerfish’s bizarre mating routine is seen as counteracting the otherwise slim chances of finding a mate in the world’s largest ecosystem. It is the only known vertebrate that employs sexual parasitism, and that gave it an evolutionary edge.

Over time, the male can physically fuse with the female, connecting to her skin and bloodstream. Eventually, he loses his eyes and all internal organs except for his testes. A female can carry several males on her body.

The Yale team documented how immune systems that attack foreign threats changed over time so the female hosts would not reject the parasitic males.

Anglerfish get their name from how females use rodlike appendages with glowing tips to lure prey into their needlelike teeth. They’re fish that fish . Their mouths are so large and their bodies so flexible that they can swallow prey up to twice their size.

The Yale team used fossils and genetic data from more than 100 living anglerfish species to determine that the burst of diversification came during a major global heat spike between 50 million and 35 million years ago. The world’s oceans were thrown into turmoil, and the bottom-walking ancestors of the anglerfish began to explore the wider oceanic world.

“It happened in the blink of an evolutionary eye about 50 million years ago,” Mr. Brownstein said in an interview. “It was like whales going back into the ocean. It was amazing.”

The team found that, simultaneously, the fish developed their unusual reproductive skills. It was unable to determine which came first — temporary or permanent attachment.

Some female anglerfish can grow quite large, reaching more than three feet in length, but most are smaller. The free-swimming males typically are a few inches long.

How do they find the females in the perpetual darkness of the deep sea?

Mr. Brownstein said the males have enlarged nasal organs that are thought to let them follow faint trails of female pheromones through the darkness in order to find their partner.

“You sniff out your mate, literally,” he said.

William J. Broad has reported on science at The Times since 1983. He is based in New York. More about William J. Broad

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