Jeff Bezos' Girlfriend Lauren Sanchez Is Headed To Space: Here's When The Flight Will Happen And Why It's Important

The girlfriend of billionaire Jeff Bezos could be one of the newest space passengers thanks to a company founded by Bezos. Here are the details.

What Happened: It was announced recently that Bezo's girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, would be heading to space aboard a Blue Origin spacecraft in the future. The flight comes as a space race between Bezos and Richard Branson saw both billionaires compete to get passengers to space.

Sanchez would lead an all-women crew to space in early 2024 according to comments made to The Wall Street Journal.

Sanchez is a media personality and Emmy award-winning TV host, who went public with a relationship with Bezos in 2019 after his divorce from MacKenzie Scott.

The flight to space will have a crew of five “impactful” women, but Sanchez was remaining quiet about who the other members will be.

“It’s going to be women who are making a difference in the world and who are impactful and have a message to send,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez has a pilot’s license and flown herself and Bezos on many helicopter rides since their relationship began. Bezos was in a helicopter crash in 2003 and has credited Sanchez with helping him be comfortable in the air again. Bezos was also working on getting his own pilot’s license according to the interview with Sanchez.

Sanchez said she might have to hold Bezos back to keep him from going on the flight, but he will be cheering from the sidelines.

This would mark the first all-woman space mission for Blue Origin, the space company founded by Bezos in 2000.

Related Link: Jeff Bezos Girlfriend Is Also Rich, She Just Donated $1M To This Charity 

Why It’s Important: Blue Origin had done several missions for NASA and was also advancing in the space passenger sector.

Bezos’ space company had been at odds with SpaceX, a space company founded by Elon Musk, over the years. The companies competed for NASA deals and fought each other in court.

Bezos also competed with Virgin Galactic Inc SPCE, a passenger flight space company founded by Branson. Virgin Galactic and Branson beat Bezos and Blue Origin to space by less than two weeks in a highly competitive race.

Blue Origin had launched four crewed flights to space since 2021. Among the passengers were Bezos and Star Trek actor William Shatner, who became the oldest person in space. Shatner had since shared candid thoughts on the trip to space.

“When I looked in the opposite direction, into space, there was no mystery, no majestic awe to behold, all I saw was death,” Shatner said.

Shatner recalled what he saw as a “cold, dark, black emptiness” unlike anything you can see on Earth.

“My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration, instead, it felt like a funeral.”

Another flight from Blue Origin included former NFL player and “Good Morning America” host Michael Strahan. The flight received strong media attention.

YouTube star Coby Cotton, of the Dude Perfect trick-shot crew, also went to space aboard a Blue Origin flight. A video from Dude Perfect about the flight has more than 22 million views.

Actor Pete Davidson was previously attached to a space flight, but had a conflict and dropped out due to a scheduling change.

Blue Origin was currently grounded from flying to space after a spacecraft suffered an explosion in September.

Virgin Galactic was expected to resume flights to space later this year. The company had celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie and Musk on the waitlist for space flights.

Sanchez being attached to a future flight could be a big marketing event that could help Blue Origin and possibly, Virgin Galactic. With the price point currently in the six figures for consumers to go to space, many would have to live vicariously through celebrities and others who could afford the price tag.

The comments from Shatner also likely didn’t help with getting people excited about shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to be sad in space.

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