Jeff Bezos pays £150m to put name in astronaut museum despite barely going to space once

dailystar.co.uk:

Jeff Bezos has paid $200 million (£150 million) to name a new branch of the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum after himself, despite only going to space once - and just barely, according to critics.

According to the terms of the agreement obtained by MarketWatch, the Amazon founder will have his name displayed on the new Bezos Learning Center and several other locations around the museum for at least 50 years because of the donation, believed to be one of the largest ever.It was also reported that the deal does not include a “morals clause,” which is an arrangement that would have allowed the museum to cease the former’s naming rights if the name “Jeff Bezos” became controversial.

The naming rights agreement was approved by the board, whose members include Vice President Kamala Harris.Plans for the $130 million Bezos Learning Centre were announced last summer.

Now it's reported that an additional $70 million will come from Bezos, earmarked toward renovating the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.A spokeswoman for the Smithsonian told The New York Post that Bezos didn’t make demands “around naming rights.”“These are all standard agreements made for this size of philanthropic gift,” she said.The learning centre “will feature programs and activities that inspire students to pursue innovation and explore careers in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) fields.”Bezos’ name will be used by the Smithsonian “immediately” despite the fact that the learning centre won’t be fully built “for some time,” as per the gift agreement.Blue Origin’s New Shepard embarked on a suborbital, not orbital, mission in July 2021.