18-year-old joining Blue Origins’s 1st passenger spaceflight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – An 18-year-old is about to become the youngest person in space.

The rocket company Blue Origin announced Thursday that instead of an auction winner launching with founder Jeff Bezos on Tuesday, Oliver Daemen will be on board.

He’ll rocket away with an aviation pioneer who will become the oldest person in space at age 82.

The student took a year off after high school to obtain his private pilot’s license.

He’ll attend the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands in September.

Blue Origin says the yet-to-be-identified winner of the $28 million charity auction has a scheduling conflict and will catch a future flight.