Dutch physics student, 18, who became the world's youngest astronaut when he flew on Jeff Bezos' inaugural space flight admits: 'I've never bought anything from Amazon'
Dutch physics student, 18, who became the world's youngest space traveler aboard Jeff Bezos's New Shepard craft last week, shocked the billionaire by revealing that he had never ordered anything from Amazon.com.
'I told Jeff, like, I've actually never bought something from Amazon,' Daemen told interviewers at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. 'And he was like, ''oh, wow, it's [been] a long time ago [since] I heard someone say that.'''
In what was seen as a tone-deaf statement following the 10-plus-minute, 66-mile-high trip above Earth on July 20, Bezos said, 'So, to every Amazon customer out there and every Amazon employee thank you from the bottom of my heart.'
Team Blue Origin after returning from their mission to space on Tuesday morning in Van Horn, Texas. Oliver Daemen, left, joined Jeff Bezos, Wally Funk and Mark Bezos
Jeff Bezos tosses a candy into the mouth of 18-year-old Oliver Daemen as the Blue Origin crew float in space on July 20
Oliver is the son of Joes Daemen, right, the founder and CEO of Dutch private equity firm Somerset Capital Partners
The comment came while critics contend the commercial space race between Bezos and fellow billionaires Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, and Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic, is elitist and that many will never be able to afford the experience.
Hundreds of affluent customers to date, including celebrities Brad Pitt and Katy Perry, have reserved a $250,000 seat on one of Virgin's space trips.
Joining Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic in the chase for space tourists is Musk’s SpaceX. The Associated Press reports SpaceX plans to send its customers into orbit, not on brief up-and-down hops. Musk has yet to commit to a launch himself.
Daemen was the 'first paying customer' for Blue Origin, the company said in an email. The teen flew to the edge of space alongside Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Mary Wallace 'Wally' Funk and two other passengers.
Daemen's father, financier Joes Daemen, had the second-place bid in an auction for a seat aboard New Shepard. The auction winner bid $28 million, but opted to take a future flight.
Oliver Daemen found out he would be joining the flight while on a family holiday in Italy.
"They called and said: Are you still interested?' and we were like 'Yes! Yes! Yes!'"
At just 18, Oliver was the youngest to travel to space.
"We didn't pay even close to $28 million, but they chose me because I was the youngest and I was also a pilot and I also knew quite a lot about it already," said Oliver, adding that he and the crew received just two days of safety training.
Daemen is due to begin a degree in physics and innovation management at the University of Utrecht in September.
At 82, Wally Funk, left, is the oldest person to have ever gone to space and at 18, Oliver Daemen, left, is the youngest
The New Shepard launched at 9.12am EST on Tuesday. Four minutes later the booster separated from the capsule and the four crew members floated in zero gravity for four minutes before starting their descent. First, three parachutes deployed then another three before the capsule touched back down in the Texas desert at 9.22am EST
The Blue Shepard launches the capsule carrying Jeff Bezos and three other passengers into space on July 20
The capsule descended without parachutes for a brief moment on Tuesday before the first three were deployed
Jeff Bezos and the crew of Blue Origin return to Earth last week
The capsule had to be 'charged' before the astronauts could exit. This involved sending a large static charge to 'ground it'. It touched just over 10 minutes after liftoff
Dutch teenager Oliver Daemen became the youngest person to ever travel to space after the Blue Origin flight. He is shown celebrating with Lauren Sanchez, the girlfriend of Jeff Bezos
Daemen hugged his parents after landing before being given a hug by Sanchez
Bezos and the crew of Blue Origin took off from their base at Van Horn, Texas, at 9.12am EST on July 20 - the 52nd anniversary of the moon landing. Bezos' group ascended for four minutes before the New Shepard rocket booster separated from their capsule, leaving them floating in zero gravity for four minutes.
They returned to earth with parachutes controlling the pace of their descent, touching down in the Texas desert at 9.22am EST.
The journey cost $5.5billion.
Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon CEO earlier this year and will now split his time between Blue Origin and his environmental charity dubbed the Earth Fund and launched in February 2020.
According to CNBC, the program issues grants to scientists, activists and other organizations in their efforts to “preserve and protect the natural world.”
Oliver Daemen, left, Mark Bezos, Jeff Bezos and Wally Funk appear at a press conference after returning from space
Jeff Bezos, left welcomes up Oliver Daemen to Launch Centre One in Texas
Bezos' Blue Origin crew traveled 66 miles above the surface of Earth - 13 miles higher than Virgin Galactic billionaire Branson, who tweeted his congratulations to the team afterwards.
Bezos says his goal is to move the world's major industries that are damaging the planet to space in order to preserve Earth's environment. He wants to develop space travel like aviation pioneers did with commercial airliners, and says it'll eventually become more affordable.
Bezos has revealed that he's sold $100million in tickets for future flights. Blue Origin will have two more commercial flights this year using the same capsule.
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