Thousands have signed Change.org petitions to ban Jeff Bezos from returning to Earth after his space flight.
Apparently, the Amazon founder is disliked by more people than just his ex-wife.
Two petitions have sprung up on Change.org, calling for Jeff Bezos not to be allowed to return to Earth following his gravity-defying journey into the stars.
A few weeks ago on June 7, the American businessman announced that he would be participating in “an 11-minute flight to the edge of space” organised and conducted by his space exploration company, Blue Origin.
During his announcement, he also revealed that his brother, Mark Bezos, and the winner of an auction (where their $28 million bid gave them a seat aboard Blue Origin’s spacecraft, New Shepard) would accompany him on his flight.
The launch is scheduled for July 20, 2021.
After the announcement, the petitions titled: “Petition to not allow Jeff Bezos re-entry to Earth” and “Do not allow Jeff Bezos to return to Earth” were created, gaining instant attention online.
So far, both petitions have racked up thousands of signatures, with the latter one almost reaching its goal of 35,000 signatures.
Group reportedly raising money to purchase a device to deny re-entry: pic.twitter.com/X2eY2gqThT
— Morgan Tate (@morgantate_) June 16, 2021
“Billionaire’s should not exist…on earth, or in space, but should they decide the latter they should stay there,” writes Ric G, the creator of the aforementioned petition.
The author of “Petition to not allow Jeff Bezos re-entry to Earth”, Jose Ortiz, had more to say on the billionaire.
Comparing him to DC supervillain “Lex Luthor” before further labelling him as “an evil overlord hellbent on global domination”, Ortiz’s call to arms dramatically concludes with “[t]he fate of humanity is in your hands.”
Signers of the petitions have also been vocal about their reasons for doing so. “Exploits workers, wastes resources, and greenwashed. People like this, especially him, are responsible for Earth’s growing uninhabitability,” writes Adam Hoffman, signer of Ric G’s petition.
On the same petition, Mollie Dyer kept her reason short and sweet.
“Ye[e]t him into the sun,” Dyer commented.
The following are the best reasons I’ve seen for the Jeff Bezos petitions pic.twitter.com/SXapxnVbjI
— El hombre. (@El_hombruh) June 18, 2021
Despite the pushback, Bezos is still expected to undertake the launch.
According to Business Insider Australia, the New Shepard will only take Bezos and his guests as high as the “Kármán line – an imaginary boundary 62 miles (100 kilometres) above the Earth’s surface”.
Once there, the capsule that they will be sitting in: “will separate from the [rocket’s] booster, re-enter the atmosphere, and float back down to Earth with the help of parachutes.”
“I want to go on this flight because it’s a thing I wanted to do all my life. It’s an adventure – it’s a big deal for me,” explained Bezos in his announcement.
