The bidding for a ticket on Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft has reached nearly $3 million, according to the company's website.
Jeff Bezos' space firm is auctioning one of six seats on the New Shepard for an 11-minute trip scheduled to blast off on July 20, which is set to be the company's first space tourism flight.
The highest bid as of Thursday morning was $2.8 million, the website showed.
Blue Origin told Insider that more than 5,200 applicants across 136 countries had bid for the ticket since Wednesday.
The money raised from the auction will go towards Blue Origin's foundation, Club for the Future, which the company says will contribute towards the development of life in space and inspire future generations to pursue careers in science.
The auction kicked off on May 5 with sealed bids. These bids were unsealed Wednesday. You can still bid on Blue Origin's website if you go over $2.8 million.
The final stage of the auction will be held live online on June 12.
The trip in the 60-foot-tall suborbital rocket is scheduled to last 11 minutes, and will take the crew 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the Earth's surface. The launch is set for Launch Site One in Texas.
A maximum of six passengers can fit into the capsule, which sits on the top of the rocket booster. When New Shepard reaches a high altitude, it separates from the booster, reenters the atmosphere, and opens its parachutes for a safe landing.
The most recent successful flight of New Shepard was on April 14, when it carried a crash-test dummy named "Mannequin Skywalker" into space. This was the 15th consecutive test flight of New Shepard without a crew onboard.
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