On Wednesday, September 14, Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos will receive the Heinlein Prize for Accomplishments in Commercial Space Activities at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
The prize, named for science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, honors Bezos’s work with his spaceflight company Blue Origin, which has successfully tested reusable space vehicles and hopes to offer human spaceflight by next year. Among the activities scheduled for that evening: A chat with Bezos, as well as a meal, dancing, tours of the museum, and a wine reception.
Bezos will also receive $250,000, according to an invitation to the affair. That’s the standard prize for the Heinlein, of which he is the third recipient, following SpaceX honcho Elon Musk in 2011 and X Prize Foundation founder Peter Diamandis.
All those men appear to have done pretty well in life, but Bezos is by far the richest: That $250,000 represents about 0.0003 percent of what Forbes calculates as his current net worth, $66.7 billion.
Bezos will also receive a sword. Musk has used his to successfully menace a floral arrangement in his office and a piece of paper with less impressive results.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
