Crypto billionaire Justin Sun spends $28M on 10‑minute Blue Origin space trip

The mission, known as NS-34, lifted off from West Texas at 8:43 a.m. local time on Sunday and returned at 8:53 a.m., People magazine reported, giving passengers around 10 minutes of weightlessness above the Kármán line, the 100-kilometer boundary widely recognized as the start of space.

Sun, 34, was the most high-profile passenger on the flight, according to Space.com. The crew also included Indian-born American real estate investor and adventurer Arvinder (Arvi) Singh Bahal; Turkish businessman and photographer Gökhan Erdem; Puerto Rican journalist and meteorologist Deborah Martorell; Englishman Lionel Pitchford, who has operated an orphanage in Nepal for three decades; and American entrepreneur James (J.D.) Russell.

"A childhood dream from thirty years ago has finally come true," Sun wrote on Instagram, posting a photo of himself in space holding a childhood picture with Earth in the background.

Crypto billionaire Justin Sun, founder of blockchain platform Tron. Photo courtesy of Sun's Instagram

Blue Origin has not revealed recent ticket prices, but Bloomberg and Space.com reported that Sun paid $28 million for his seat.

Forbes estimates his net worth at $8.5 billion as of Aug. 4.

Sun won the ticket in a 2021 auction and was initially scheduled to join the first crewed New Shepard flight that year, but postponed due to a scheduling conflict.

Blue Origin said the $28 million was donated to "19 space-focused charities to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEAM [science, technology, engineering, art and math] and help shape the future of life in space."

In April, Vietnamese-American activist Amanda Ngoc Nguyen joined a historic New Shepard flight alongside Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s wifeLauren Sanchez, pop star Katy Perry, and other public figures, forming the first all-female crewed spaceflight in more than 60 years.