More Than 130,000 Have Signed Petition To Keep Jeff Bezos In Space

Less than a month before Jeff Bezos is set to embark on Blue Origin’s inaugural passenger spaceflight, an online petition has been gaining momentum: so far more than 130,000 people have signed on to a request that Bezos not bother returning to Earth once he leaves it.

The Change.org petition, titled “Do not allow Jeff Bezos to return to Earth,” collected upwards of 134,o00 signatures as of 11 a.m. ET on Monday. It spells out a simple explanation for its demand: “Billionaires should not exist…on earth, or in space, but should they decide the latter, they should stay there.”

The petition was first published three weeks ago, shortly after Bezos announced his plans to travel to space. The trip’s completion would make him the first billionaire to visit outer space in his own spacecraft.

The author of the petition, 31-year-old Michigan local Ric Geiger, has used his growing platform to share his discontent with the billionaire class. Geiger posted an update on the petition last Thursday demanding that America’s wealthiest contribute more to address poverty and financial insecurity in the country.

“Billionaires and corporations should pay their fair share,” wrote Geiger. “Until then, Jeff Bezos can stay in space until he finds which intergalactic asteroid core contains his compassion and humanity.”

This is not the first Change.org petition involving Bezos. A search for his name on the social mobilization platform yields over 800 hits, including one petition requesting he purchase and eat the Mona Lisa, which has amassed over 15,000 signatures.

Bezos is scheduled to launch on Blue Origin’s New Shepard on July 20, along with his brother Mark and the auction winner who bid $28 million for a seat on the coveted flight. The trip should take approximately 11 minutes, allowing the passengers to experience several minutes of weightlessness once the capsule reaches maximum altitude.

Shortly before the launch, Bezos will step down as CEO of Amazon on July 5 to become executive chairman of the company he founded in 1994. He has an estimated overall net-worth of $198 billion, making him the world’s richest person. 

Since founding Blue Origin in 2000, Venture firm Space Capital estimates Bezos has poured over $7.5 billion into his aerospace company. Back in 2017, Bezos said he was selling about $1 billion in Amazon stock a year to invest in Blue Origin.

Geiger has also called out Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and the group of billionaires who, like the Amazon CEO, are racing to take their own excursion to space.

“The recent billionaire space odyssey competition is a slap in the face to working class folks struggling paycheck to paycheck just to survive,” he wrote in one petition update.

In an email to Forbes, Geiger wrote he never expected the petition would become so popular.

“My genuine intention was to use humor to commiserate and help mitigate some of the existential dread among my peers,” he wrote, “But I will take advantage of the opportunity to speak about this major issue of economic inequality and human rights.”