Jeff Bezos, mega-billionaire and owner of The Washington Post, plans to rocket into space on July 20.
Tens of thousands of people don’t want him to come back to earth.
A bunch of petitions have emerged since Bezos announced his trip. One of them, titled “Do not allow Jeff Bezos to return to Earth,” had collected more than 76,000 signatures by early Tuesday. “Billionaire’s [sic] should not exist…on earth, or in space, but should they decide the latter they should stay there,” it states.
Some signers added comments such as “being let back into Earth is a privilege — not a right,” and “Earth don’t want people like Jeff, Bill, Elon and other such billionaires.”
Another petition, called “Petition To Not Allow Jeff Bezos Re-Entry To Earth,” has collected more than 20,000 signatures in less than two weeks since Bezos made his announcement.
“Jeff Bezos is actually Lex Luthor, disguised as the supposed owner of a super successful online retail store,” wrote the poster. “However, he’s actually an evil overlord hellbent on global domination. We’ve known this for years. Jeff has worked with the Epsteins and the Knights Templar, as well as the Free Masons to gain control over the whole world. He’s also in bed with the flat earth deniers; it’s the only way they’ll allow him to leave the atmosphere. Meanwhile our government stands by and lets it happen.”
A week ago, one bidder with deep pockets won an auction to join the Amazon founder and others on a trip to space.
“The Amazon founder’s rocket company, Blue Origin, did not disclose the winner’s name following the live online auction,” WDSU-TV reported. “The identity will be revealed in a couple weeks — closer to the brief up-and-down flight from West Texas on July 20, the 52nd anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moon landing.”
When the rocket launches, it will be the first time non-astronauts will travel to space. Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket has done 15 test flights since 2015, all successful. “The completely automated capsule can carry up to six passengers, each with their own big window. Blue Origin’s top sales director, Ariane Cornell, said following the auction that the fourth and final seat on the debut crew flight will be announced soon,” the station reported.
More than 7,500 people from nearly 160 countries registered to bid on the flight, according to Blue Origin. But just 20 bidders were included in Saturday’s final auction.
“The winning bid amount will be donated to Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, whose mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and to help invent the future of life in space,” said the Blue Origin website.
A bunch of billionaires, including Tesla founder Elon Musk, are heading to space. And a Japanese billionaire who has already booked a seat on the first private flight to the moon said in March he’s willing to bring eight companions along — and he’ll pay their way.
Yusaku Maezawa put out an open call for people who want to join him on the SpaceX rocket, which is set to head to loop around the moon in 2023.