Crypto mogul flies to space aboard latest Blue Origin flight

A Blue Origin rocket launched cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun and five others on a trip to the edge of space and back.

The flight lifted off on Sunday at 7:42 a.m. local time from West Texas on a short suborbital joyride to space.

Sun founded TRON, a blockchain platform, and serves as an adviser to HTX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. He placed the top bid of $28 million for a seat on Blue Origin’s tourism craft in 2021. The proceeds went to Blue Origin’s Club for the Future foundation to benefit space-based charities.

The other members on board were real estate investor Arvi Bahal; Turkish businessman Gökhan Erdem; meteorologist and journalist Deborah Martorell; teacher Lionel Pitchford; and JD Russell, founder of venture capital firm Alpha Funds.

The crypto entrepreneur was supposed to fly on Blue Origin’s first human flight with company founder Jeff Bezos in July 2021, but Sun had to reschedule.

Other celebrities have taken on the suborbital mission, including pop star Katy Perry and Bezos’ now-wife Lauren Sánchez.

While Blue Origin does not disclose its price for a seat on one of its tourism flights, rival space tourism company Virgin Galactic charges around $600,000 for a similar experience.

Blue Origin has now launched 14 tourist missions on its New Shepard to date, the company said.

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