Person Who Paid $28m To Join Jeff Bezos Flight To Space Unable To Go As They’re Busy

A person who paid $28 million to fly into space with Jeff Bezos can't go anymore, because they're busy.

The private space company said the unnamed traveller, 'who will remain anonymous at this time', couldn't make the flight due to 'scheduling conflicts'.

Instead, 18-year-old Oliver Daemen will be going with the Amazon founder instead.

The physics student will become the youngest person ever to go into space, after his dad was one of the runners-up in the auction to join the flight. How much he paid for the ticket has not been disclosed.

His father, Dutch financier Joes Daemen, founded private equity firm Somerset Capital Partners. Joes paid for the ticket, but decided to let Oliver go instead.

Speaking in a video message, Oliver said: "I am super excited to go to space.

"I've been dreaming about this all my life and I will become the youngest astronaut ever because I'm 18 years old. I am super excited to experience zero G."

Bezos' Blue Origin firm will make the historic flight on 20 July, and it will also include Mary Wallace 'Wally' Funk, 82. The American aviation pioneer will become the oldest person to fly into space.

The other passengers on the New Shepard mission will be Bezos and his brother Mark.

Blue Origin didn't disclose how it chose Mr Daemen to replace the anonymous winner of the auction.

In a statement, it said: "At 18-years-old and 82-years-young, Oliver Daemen and Wally Funk represent the youngest and oldest astronauts to travel to space."

Oliver is currently on a gap year before starting his studies at the University of Utrecht in September.

Blue Origin said its non-profit, Club for the Future has given $1 million each to different organisations which are working on projects 'to support the future of living and working in space'.

Bob Smith, CEO of Blue Origin said: "We thank the auction winner for their generous support of Club for the Future and are honored to welcome Oliver to fly with us on New Shepard.

"This marks the beginning of commercial operations for New Shepard, and Oliver represents a new generation of people who will help us build a road to space."

Flying to space seems to be a bit of a priority for billionaires at the moment. Just last week, Richard Branson was blasted up towards the edge of space on his Virgin Galactic spaceship after launching from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

The flight, which Branson described as a 'private astronaut experience' was pushed back for a while due to the overnight weather, but Branson did eventually manage to achieve lift-off, becoming the first owner-astronaut to take part in a space mission.