Blue Origin: Dutch Teen on Space Flight Told Jeff Bezos He Had Never Ordered From Amazon

Bezos replied to Oliver Daemen, “Oh, wow, it's a long time ago I heard someone say that.”

Blue Origin: Dutch Teen on Space Flight Told Jeff Bezos He Had Never Ordered From Amazon

Photo Credit: Reuters

Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old physics student, was on a 10-minute trip to space

Highlights
  • Oliver Daemen said that he'd never ordered anything on Amazon
  • He accompanied Amazon's Jeff Bezos on the trip beyond Earth's atmosphere
  • The crew received two days of safety training, the physics student said
Advertisement

The Dutch teenager who became the world's youngest space traveller this week surprised billionaire Jeff Bezos on the flight by telling him he'd never ordered anything on Amazon.com.

Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old physics student, accompanied Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos and 82-year-old female aviator Wally Funk - the oldest person to go to space - on a 10-minute trip beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Bezos funded exploration company Blue Origin by selling billions of dollars' worth of stock in his online delivery business Amazon.

"I told Jeff, like, I've actually never bought something from Amazon," Daemen told Reuters in an interview on Friday at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. "And he was like, 'oh, wow, it's a long time ago I heard someone say that'."

Daemen, who was picked after another candidate bidding $28 million for the ride cancelled at the last minute, 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!'"

Daemen had dreamt of space travel since he was a kid, followed every development by space exploration companies like Blue Origin and got his pilot's licence at a young age.

"We didn't pay even close to $28 million (roughly Rs. 208.40 crores), 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."

Ping-pong in space
Reality still hasn't sunk in three days after the journey.

"I don't think I realised it until I was in the rocket: 'wow, it's really happening'," he said. "It was my ultimate, ultimate goal ... but I never thought it was going to be this soon."

The crew received two days of safety training, but nothing very hard, said Daemen, who can be seen in a video of the trip tossing ping-pong balls in weightlessness with Jeff Bezos.

"That was super cool. It's so weird to be weightless. It was easier than I had expected. It was kind of like being in water."

Daemen, who is set to start at Utrecht University in September, said he was not sure what he wanted to do later in life, but would seriously consider a career in space travel.

Asked what it was like travelling in a rocket ship with a billionaire, he answered with a wide smile: "They were super fun and all down to earth, as funny as that may sound."

© Thomson Reuters 2021


Amazon's annual shopping extravaganza, Prime Day, is our focus this week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Oliver Daemen, Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin
YouTube, Along With Facebook, Said to Be on White House Radar for Spreading COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation
Zomato's Stellar Stock Market Debut Sets Pace for Other Indian Tech Listings
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »