Jeff Bezos Space Ride Prices Resurface at $200,000-Plus, but Blue Origin's Tourist Rocket Remains Grounded

A report that Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin planned to charge $200,000 or more for rides to space has been circulating again online. But anyone hoping to buy a seat on the company's tourist rocket will have to wait: Blue Origin has paused the program.

The figures trace back to a 2018 Reuters report, which said Blue Origin planned to charge passengers about $200,000 to $300,000 for trips aboard its New Shepard vehicle. Two employees familiar with the plans told Reuters at the time that tickets would cost at least $200,000.

Never an official price

Blue Origin has never published an official ticket price for New Shepard. Industry reporting has placed seats in the range of $200,000 to $300,000, but buyers negotiate directly with the company.

Some passengers have paid far more. A seat on the first crewed flight in July 2021, which carried Bezos himself, was auctioned for $28 million.

Flights paused for at least two years

In January, Blue Origin announced it would pause New Shepard flights "for no less than two years" to accelerate development of its human lunar capabilities.

The company is focusing on Blue Moon, a lunar lander it is building for NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon. Blue Origin holds a $3.4 billion NASA contract for the lander.

Chief Executive Dave Limp told employees in an internal email that "New Shepard has achieved great success and will forever be our first step."

While Blue Origin has called the move a temporary pause, some employees privately viewed it as a de facto cancellation, Reuters reported.

A record of flights

New Shepard completed 38 flights, including 17 crewed missions that carried 98 people to suborbital space. Passengers included Bezos, actor William Shatner and pop star Katy Perry, along with aviation pioneer Wally Funk and Ed Dwight, who was once in line to become America's first Black astronaut.

The rocket also flew more than 200 scientific and research payloads.

The fully automated vehicle carried up to six passengers more than 62 miles above Earth, giving them a few minutes of weightlessness and views of the planet's curvature before the capsule returned under parachutes. A typical flight lasted about 10 to 11 minutes.

Customers left waiting

The pause came despite a multiyear backlog of customers. Blue Origin did not announce what would happen to people already booked on future flights.

The decision has left few options for would-be space tourists. Rival Virgin Galactic, which charges about $450,000 per ticket, has also paused flights while it builds a new generation of spacecraft. Orbital trips with SpaceX or Axiom Space cost tens of millions of dollars.

Bigger ambitions

Blue Origin's shift reflects a broader push toward deep-space exploration. The company has flown its powerful New Glenn rocket and is competing with Elon Musk's SpaceX to land astronauts on the moon.

Technology developed for New Shepard has fed into those efforts. Its engine was adapted for New Glenn's upper stage, and its booster landing experience helped Blue Origin land a New Glenn booster on a barge.

What's next

For now, a seat on a Blue Origin tourist flight is unavailable at any price. Whether New Shepard returns after the pause, and at what cost, remains uncertain as the company focuses on the moon.