Jeff Bezos to travel on Blue Origin's first human space flight

Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos has announced he will be traveling on Blue Origin’s first human space flight. Yahoo Finance’s Akiko Fujita and Zack Guzman discuss.

Video transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is making a big announcement on Instagram today, saying he is headed to space on the first human flight for Blue Origin.

JEFF BEZOS: You see the Earth from space. It changes you. It changes your relationship with this planet, with humanity. It's one Earth. I want to go on this flight because it's the thing I've wanted to do all my life. It's an adventure. It's a big deal for me. I invited my brother to come on this first flight because we're closest friends.

I really want you to come with me. Would you?

- Are you serious?

JEFF BEZOS: I am. I think it would be meaningful.

AKIKO FUJITA: So there you have it, Zack. Jeff Bezos headed to space with his brother. By the way, there are six seats on this inaugural human flight for Blue Origin, two taken up by the Bezoses. It's an interesting timing here because the flights actually going to be on July 20. If you'll recall, he is stepping down from Amazon as the CEO on July 5.

And remember when that first announcement came down that he would be stepping back, there was a lot of speculation about whether, in fact, this was so that he could sort of double down on his efforts with Blue Origin. And now I mean, at least if you look at the timing, it feels that way because certainly if he was still the CEO of Amazon, you could say a lot of investors would argue, there's a significant risk with him taking the flight.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, I mean, I guess you could point to that. And maybe that is kind of all the connection here. But it's just so difficult to kind of imagine what any of this is like. I mean, it's very hard to imagine, you know, a commoner, if you will, just saying, you know, [INAUDIBLE] is putting in your two weeks. I got to go to space. Sorry, I'm a little busy over here. And I haven't seen Jeff Bezos in a cowboy hat before either. But I enjoyed that clip of him in a cowboy hat and a beer. But this is-- I mean, this is something that he has been interested, as we know, for a long time.

And it's something that I think, you know, when we talk about Richard Branson and his interest in space and what he's doing there at Virgin Galactic and then you talk about this endeavor with Jeff Bezos, I mean, it's starting to get to the point where it's-- you know, the interesting space flight's when these guys are going up themselves. It's something-- I mean, obviously, all of these things are exciting to watch.

But now when you know the people who are on there and they're as high profile as Jeff Bezos, these are going to start to be some big events, you know? And I wonder what kind of rights and streaming around those we might start to see when it becomes a must watch event. And I mean, these are already must watch, Akiko.

AKIKO FUJITA: Always looking at the business side, right? Let's talk about the specifics of this trip, though, because it's pretty incredible. Six people, as I said, going up with Jeff Bezos. You're going to be spending time with them. I don't know if that's an added benefit. And they have auctioned off one of those seats. $2.8 billion has been the highest bid so far that's come in. We're talking about an 11-minute space tourism trip, so not very long. But since this is part of our take, Zack, I'm going to put you on the spot. Would you go up in the inaugural flight, the very first--

ZACK GUZMAN: There are so many--

AKIKO FUJITA: --flight? How comfortable would you be?

ZACK GUZMAN: I'm actually nervous for him. And there's no reason for me to be nervous for him, but I'm just that risk averse. I wouldn't be comfortable at all, Akiko. There's enough things that I haven't done on Earth. I have no urge to leave our planet. I just wanted to go to Australia, to be honest, with this pandemic. I mean, I don't ask for much. But, you know, I've set my sights far lower.

AKIKO FUJITA: Space or Australia? Space or Australia? I think I would choose space if it's between those two options. But you're certainly right. I mean, there's a lot riding on this. You would imagine Jeff Bezos obviously well more-- much more informed than either of us, given that this is his venture. But it's going to be an interesting one, to your point. I mean, you know, one of the world's richest men going up in space in an inaugural flight with his brother, along with four other passengers.

ZACK GUZMAN: It's exciting. Yeah, and on the anniversary, as you pointed out, of the Apollo mission, too. So I mean, there's a lot of significance around it, but one that we will be watching with bated breath, not just because I'm a worrywart, but also because it is monumental in space travel.