Blue Origin announced today that the fourth member of the NS-16 crew will be
an 18-year-old from the Netherlands who bought a ticket on the New Shepard
rocket.
Blue Origin announced that the winner of the $28 million auction won’t be
able to fly with Jeff Bezos due to a scheduling conflict, but a new ticket
holder was selected. Oliver Daemen, the new crewmember, will be the youngest
person to go to space at only 18.
Daemen, a recent high school graduate, has been fascinated by space since he
was 4 and will now achieve his dream of flying to space. No details have
been given about how he was chosen but his selection will make NS-16 the
mission to send both the oldest person, Wally Funk at 82, and the youngest
people to space.
“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. 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.” ~ Bob Smith, CEO of Blue Origin
Currently, Daemen is working on his private pilot’s license before attending
the University of Utrecht to study physics and innovation management. He
will join Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, and Wally Funk in Texas for the NS-16
launch on July 20th.
Blue Origin explains how he got the seat
A Blue Origin spokesperson spoke with CNBC about how Daemen was selected to
become NS-16’s crew member. Daemen, and his father Joes Daemen who is the
CEO of Somerset Capital Partners, were participants in the auction. While
they did not win the first seat they did secure a seat on the second flight,
an unknown to the public possibility. Blue Origin decided to move him up
after the auction winner was not able to fly in time.