Who is Mark Bezos and why will he be blasted into orbit with brother Jeff?
I want to go on this flight because its a thing Ive wanted to do all my life, its an adventure, its a big deal for me, Bezos  in his little gilet  says in an Instagram video released this week. I invited my brother to come on this first flight because were closest friends.  The video then cuts to Jeff, now in a cowboy hat and aviators, sitting having a drink with Mark, before he abruptly asks him to join him. Are you serious? Mark says, with the kind of wide-eyed panic of a woman being proposed to in a busy restaurant and unable to decline without upsetting everyone. I am, I think it would be meaningful, Bezos replies, a little weirdly. So, whether Mark likes it or not, the Bezos Bros are going to (inner) space. And they do, apparently, get on famously. Five years the Amazon founders junior, Mark and his sister, Christina, have a different biological father to Jeff, but grew up together as they moved between Albuquerque, Texas and Florida. While Jeff went on to take over the world, trampling all in his path as he went, Mark has done the opposite by doing what he can to save it. Not only is he a director of the Bezos Family Foundation, but his day job is split between serving on leadership boards for education and poverty-fighting charities, and as a volunteer firefighter in New York (he also founded a private equity firm, but we will forget that). Mark is reportedly married with four children, and has the kind of easy, confident demeanour and naturally thick-set build that might perhaps inspire a nerdy, weedier sibling persistently to feel he needs to prove his worth by rapaciously accruing more and more wealth by at times questionable means, obsess over weightlifting in midlife, or build phallic spacecrafts and force family members aboard. Hes also funnier. If anyones confused, Im the one with the smaller bank account, he remarked, appearing at a live event with Jeff four years ago. HA HA HA, Jeff bellowed, hes the big brother. When they are together, Jeff went on to say, I just laugh continuously.  So space ought to be a hoot, which is the main thing, because there cant be many people whod want to share an 18-metre, sealed, pilotless tin can with their brother in space, no matter how close they are. As any parent knows, getting through a long car journey without one sibling punching the other is a challenge, and thats brothers that get on. I give it three minutes of the total 11-minute flight time next month before Jeff accuses Mark of farting, Mark denies it, then Jeff unbuckles his little space gilet and tries to put Mark in a headlock. I was just awestruck, Mark says in that Instagram video, reflecting on the invitation. What a remarkable opportunity, not only to have this adventure, but to be able to do it with my best friend.  The videos caption ends with #GradatimFerociter: step by step, ferociously. Thats the spirit. To infinity, and beyond. Just remember to play nice.