Petitions urging Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to stay in space have been signed more than 100,000 times since they were made two weeks ago.
Bezos is a multibillionaire and the world's richest person, with a net worth of roughly $200 billion (per Forbes). He will launch into space next month with Blue Origin, the private rocket business he created.
The launch next month is entirely recreational, signaling the emergence of the nascent space tourism business.
Bezos, his brother Mark, and an unnamed third person will journey to space for a limited period, temporarily ascending above the Kármán line-the widely acknowledged border where space begins-before returning to Earth.
Blue Origin said on June 12 that it had found a third individual for the July launch after auctioning an empty seat for $28 million.
Leave Jeff Bezos In Space, Petitioners Say
As the launch date near, more individuals suggest that the billionaire go to space and stay there. Over 100,000 people have signed two Change.org petitions.
More than 50,000 people signed a Change.org petition titled "Do not allow Jeff Bezos to return to Earth."
Another petition, called "Petition To Not Allow Jeff Bezos Re-Entry To Earth," acquired more than 20,000 signatures.
The first looked to be the most popular, with its description criticizing the Amazon CEO's fortune. "Billionaires should not exist...on earth, or in space, but should they decide the latter they should stay there," the petition's description said.
In the description of the second petition, Jose Ortiz stated that Bezos was "an evil overlord hellbent on global domination."
"The fate of humanity is in your hands," Ortiz also wrote.
This is not the first time Bezos has been involved in an odd petition. More than 11,600 people have signed a petition demanding the businessman to "buy and eat the Mona Lisa."
"Nobody has eaten the Mona Lisa and we feel Jeff Bezos needs to take a stand and make this happen," the petition reads.
Kane Powell of Maryland created the petition after a debate with friends at an Applebee's about how Bezos had the money to buy the iconic Leonardo da Vinci artwork.
"I mean, me and my fiancée were dipping into the dollar drink menu," the 22-year-old Powell told Vice.
Are These Petitions Bound To Fail?
Blue Origin has made no preparations to change the launch's existing flight profile, which will not attain the speeds required to achieve orbital velocity.
This implies that, while Bezos and his colleagues will technically be launched into space, physics dictates that they will rapidly return to Earth rather than continue to orbit it endlessly.
According to Blue Origin's website, a typical mission of this type will run between 10 and 12 minutes from launch to landing. New Shepard is the name of the single-stage rocket in question.
It does not take much to start a petition on Change.org. Given the controversies surrounding Bezos and Amazon, it is not a surprise that his intentions to go to space have gotten a lot of attention.
However, Geekwire said both petitions are doomed to fail. Although it is possible that the flight may end in catastrophe — and some on Twitter are wishing for it — the world's wealthiest person will not be marooned on the ultimate frontier. When it comes to suborbital spaceflight, what goes up must inevitably come down.
RELATED ARTICLE: Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Says Current Highest Bid for New Shepard Rocket Trip is Worth at Least $2M
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