Oliver Daemen (born 20 August 2002[citation needed]) is a Dutch space tourist[1][2] who flew as part of the 20 July 2021, sub-orbitalBlue Origin NS-16spaceflight.[3][4][5] At the time of his flight he was 18 years old,[6] and became the youngest person, first teenager, and first person born in the 21st century to travel to space. He is a licensed pilot.[7]
Life and career
Oliver was born in Oisterwijk, Netherlands.[8] He attended the Odulphuslyceum in Tilburg and obtained his high school diploma in 2020.[9] He is enrolled at Utrecht University where he started his studies in Science and Innovation Management in September 2021.[8][9] Oliver's father, Joes Daemen is a CEO of Somerset Capital Partners, a private equity firm in the Netherlands.
Olivers's space tourist seat on the New Shepard rocket was secured through an auction, making him Blue Origin's first customer (i.e. a person whose flight was not paid for by Blue Origin) and the 8th person to privately fund their non-professional spaceflight.[10][11] Initially, cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun (who at the time remained anonymous)[12] won the auction with a $28 million bid for the one available seat on NS-16. However, Blue Origin said Sun could not make the flight "due to scheduling conflicts". Oliver's father, Joes Daemen "had secured a seat on the second flight," said a Blue Origin spokesperson, and when Justin Sun backed out, Daemen's seat was "moved up,"[8][13][14][15] On 20 July 2021, Oliver at 18 became the youngest person to take sub-orbital first fully automated spaceflight with civilian passengers of approximately 10 minutes in duration reaching apogee 107 km (66 mi).[16][17]
^Fisher, Kristin (10 December 2021). "First on CNN: The US gives Bezos, Branson and Shatner their astronaut wings". CNN. Retrieved 10 December 2021. The US government is making it official, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and William Shatner have earned the title of astronaut after their flights to the edge of space. The Federal Aviation Administration will also award Commercial Space Astronaut Wings to 12 other people who have flown at least 50 miles above Earth on a FAA licensed commercial spacecraft, including the crew of SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission. The FAA will award wings to eight people who flew on Blue Origin's New Shepherd spacecraft, three who flew on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, and to the four members of the SpaceX crew who spent three days in space in September.
^"Bidder pays $28m for space trip with Amazon's Bezos". BBC News. 12 June 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2021. After a nearly month-long bidding process the top bid had stood at just under $5m – but once Saturday's online auction got under way that figure rose more than five times. "The winning bid amount will be donated to Blue Origin's foundation, @ClubforFuture," Blue Origin tweeted....
