Dutch teenager is set to join billionaire Jeff Bezos in his first space tourism flight

An 18-year-old is to become the youngest person to fly to space when he joins Jeff Bezos on the first human flight by his space company on 20 July. Oliver Daemen will fly in place of an anonymous $28m (£20m) winning bidder of a public auction. The winner of the auction could not fly on the mission “due to scheduling conflicts”, Mr Bezos’ space venture Blue Origin said. The teenager is the son of Somerset Capital Partners CEO Joes Daemen.

Mr Daemen had secured a seat on the second flight but was moved up to the first when the winning bidder pulled out, Blue Origin said. Oliver will join 82-year-old Wally Funk, who will become the oldest ever person in space. Mr Bezos and his brother Mark will make up the rest of the passengers on the New Shepard rocket. Blue Origin have not said how much Mr Daeman’s ticket cost. It said the flight will fulfil a lifelong dream for the teenager, “who has been fascinated by space, the Moon and rockets since he was four”. Daemen is working to obtain his pilot’s license and is planning to attend the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands to study physics and innovation management in September, Blue Origin said. The company plans to launch its passengers more than 100km (62 miles) above the Earth’s surface, allowing them to experience microgravity. The capsule will then return to Earth using parachutes on a trip expected to last about 10 minutes.