Explained: Why there’s a petition to stop Jeff Bezos from returning from space

More than 50,000 people have signed petitions urging Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos to not return to Earth after he takes his maiden flight to space on July 20. Here's why

By: Explained Desk
New Delhi | Updated: June 27, 2021 08:20 AM IST

3 min read

Jeff bezos space trip, jeff bezos space travel, jeff bezos space petition

Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos. (File photo)

More than 50,000 people have signed online petitions urging Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos to not return to Earth after he takes his maiden flight to space on July 20. Earlier this month, Bezos announced he will venture into space on board New Shephard, the rocket system developed by his space company Blue Origin.

Apart from Blue Origin, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is also expected to begin space flights, meant for space tourists, this year. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is also working on sending tourists to space.

What are these petitions?

Two petitions on change.org surfaced a few days after Bezos announced he is going to space. One of them titled, “Do not allow Jeff Bezos to return to Earth” has been signed by more than 40,000 people. It says “Billionaire’s should not exist… on Earth, or in space, but should they decide the latter they should stay there (sic).”

The other petition, signed by over 20,000 people so far, claims: “… 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.”

Why is Bezos going to space?

On June 7, Bezos announced New Shephard will be undertaking its first human flight to space on July 20, which marks the 52nd anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moon landing. “Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of travelling to space. On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend,” Bezos posted on his Instagram account earlier this month.

Bezos will be accompanied by his brother and the winner of the auction who will be paying $28 million to fly with Bezos. This amount will be donated to Blue Origin’s foundation called “Club for the Future” that aims to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM.

Blue Origin was founded by Bezos and the company says on its website that its aim is to enable, “a future where millions of people are living and working in space to benefit Earth. In order to preserve Earth, Blue Origin believes that humanity will need to expand, explore, find new energy and material resources, and move industries that stress Earth into space.”

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Considering this, the space company is currently working on developing partially and fully reusable launch vehicles that are safe and low-cost.