Kathmandu, July 4. Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive officer(CEO) of American e-commerce giant “Amazon” has handed over his post to the head of Amazon Web Services Andy Jassy.

Isn’t about retiring

Earlier in February, 57-year old billionaire, Bezos wrote a letter to his 1.3 million employees, announcing that he was motivated to put his energy towards other initiatives, including Day One Fund, Earth Fund, Washington Post, and Blue Origin.

The letter wrote, “Right now I see Amazon at its most inventive ever, making it an optimal time for this transition. I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring. I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have.”

He decided to remain as the executive chairman of the 27-year-old Amazon empire, and transfer his post of CEO to Jassy. “Andy has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence.” wrote Bezos. 

The greatest adventure

In June, Bezos wrote on Instagram, “On 20th July, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend.”

Jeff Bezos-owned private company Blue Origin Federation is preparing to launch its first passenger-carrying space mission on July 20. Bezos said that he always dreamt of traveling to space ever since he was a five-year-old kid.

Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000. The company aims to develop partially and fully reusable space vehicles that are safe, low cost, and serve the needs of all civil, commercial, and defense customers.

The latest invention of Blue Origin is “New Shepherd”, a reusable suborbital rocket system designed to take astronauts, researchers and enthusiasts to the international boundary of space (Kármán line: 100 kilometers above Earth).

Passengers of the first flight

A single session of an 11-minute adventurous flight will entertain 6 passengers.

Bezos has invited aviator and goodwill ambassador Mary Wallace(Wally Funk) to join him and his brother on the first flight which is scheduled on July 20.

“The 82-year-old pilot will now be part of the first crew on New Shepard, and the oldest person ever to fly to space,” Blue Origin officially stated.

The fourth passenger is the winning bidder of a live online charity auction held on June 10. The company has not yet revealed the identity of the lucky individual who won the $28 million bid. Nearly 7,600 people registered to bid from 159 countries.

Blue Origin is yet to confirm the names of the fifth and final passengers.