Thousands sign petitions to stop Amazon billionaire boss from returning to Earth

Two Change.org petitions to stop Jeff Bezos returning to Earth from space are well on the way to amassing 50,000 signatures.

The one most people have signed is called: “Do not allow Jeff Bezos to return to Earth,” says Business Insider.

Bezos will lift off on July 20 in his rocket New Shepard’s first manned flight into space.

The founder of space-exploration firm Blue Origin, and his brother Mark Bezos will make the return trip.

Three days after the richest man in the world’s announcement of his upcoming flight, two petitions were launched to try and prevent him returning to Earth. They have both garnered thousands of signatories in just 10 days.

“Billionaire’s [sic] should not exist…on earth, or in space, but should they decide the latter they should stay there,” one petition’s description said.

Some signatories gave a reason for signing the petition, which included comments such as “being let back into Earth is a privilege – not a right”, and “Earth don’t [sic] want people like Jeff, Bill [Gates], Elon [Musk] and other such billionaires.”

Jose Ortiz, who set up one of the petitions, said in the description that Bezos is “an evil overlord hellbent on global domination”.

Both petitions are aiming to get 25,000 signatures, making them two of the top signed petitions on Change.org, according to the website.

Bezos will take the 11-minute flight to the edge of space in his New Shepard spacecraft alongside his brother and the anonymous winner of the Blue Origin auction for a seat, which sold for US$28 million.

They’ll be strapped into a dome-shaped capsule, which sits on top of the rocket booster.

Once New Shepard reaches the Kármán line – an imaginary boundary 100 kilometres above the Earth’s surface – the capsule will separate from the booster, re-enter the atmosphere, and float back down to Earth with the help of parachutes.

Bezos said in a video posted to Instagram on June 7, “I want to go on this flight because it’s a thing I wanted to do all my life. It’s an adventure – it’s a big deal for me.”