Blue Origin raised $28 million by auctioning a seat to accompany founder Jeff Bezos on a July 20 rocket ride –- the first time the company will carry people to space.

The identity of the winner won't be revealed for a few weeks, Blue Origin said Saturday. The day's live auction followed weeks of online bidding with more than 7,000 submissions from people in 159 countries. Bezos's brother, Mark, will also make the trip.

The 11-minute excursion from Van Horn, Texas, will carry as many as six passengers. Blue Origin hasn't yet revealed who else will be aboard the New Shepard spacecraft. The automated flight will be the company's 16th but first with humans aboard.

Blue Origin is vying with Elon Musk's SpaceX and Richard Branson-backed Virgin Galactic to offer trips to space to a small number of wealthy tourists. Bezos has compared space tourism to the barnstormers whose stunt flying helped fuel public fascination in the early days of aviation and made planes a common mode of transportation.

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