In case you hadn’t heard, Jeff Bezos is about to go into space. On Monday, the former Amazon CEO announced his intention to join the first crewed suborbital flight by Blue Origin, his own spaceflight company. The billionaire invited his brother, Mark, to join him in being catapulted into space, a mission which the company hopes to launch on July 20.
“Like a lot of recently divorced middle aged dudes, Bezos has been going through some stuff lately, but unlike normal dudes, Bezos can’t deal with his midlife crisis by just buying a sports car or brewing craft beer. He’s the world’s richest man, so he’s got to do something that’s out of this world,” remarked The Daily Show‘s Trevor Noah on Monday following the news.
“Now, if you ask me, I think space travel is a natural fit for the founder of Amazon,” said Noah. “Think about it. Astronauts are just workers who have to wear diapers because they don’t get bathroom breaks, so it makes total sense.”
The Bezoses will be joined by another passenger on the flight, whoever puts in the winning bid for the seat through Blue Origin’s website. “My favourite part of the story though is that Jeff Bezos’ ship is auctioning off another seat for this trip,” said Noah. “Why? You’re Jeff Bezos. Just pay the extra money to not sit with a stranger on a trip to space. This is the culmination of your childhood dream. You don’t want to spend it fighting over the arm rest.”
Noah suggests we should all throw in some cash to a GoFundMe campaign and send Sen. Bernie Sanders on the flight with Bezos. The current bid for the extra seat is sitting at $2.8 million. “I know that sounds like a lot of money for a trip to space, but keep in mind, that’s basically how much it costs to change your flight on United.”
The Daily Show host also pointed out that Bezos leaving the world for a hot minute might please some ears more than others. “You know who this is good news for? Elon Musk,” said Noah. “Because you realise for a few hours he can be like, ‘Ha ha! I’m now the richest man on Earth. Yes, the richest man…awww, he’s back. I’m gonna go tweet about Bitcoin now.'”