In collaboration with Jeff Bezos' space exploration business Blue Origin, an American space venture has started the process of sending the first Nigerian astronaut into space. A US for-profit organization called Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA) is working to expand flying opportunities for inhabitants of nations with minimal or no space footprint. The first significant achievement was sending Brazil's second astronaut into space in June 2022. On a future Blue Origin New Shepard trip, which is SERA's next mission, six passengers will travel into space, with one seat assured to a Nigerian.

The Nigerian for the mission would be chosen through a public online vote procedure, Sam Hutchison and Joshua Skurla, co-founders of SERA, informed Semafor Africa. Any adult resident in good health who can communicate in basic English is eligible to nominate themselves for the mission. To increase their prospects, they will have to ask people to cast their votes. The creators indicated that a blockchain mechanism will be used to verify votes to guarantee an impartial selection process.

Because Nigeria is "an emerging space nation" that is still developing its goals, SERA decided to include it in its upcoming mission, according to Skurla. Nigeria benefited from being one of Africa's biggest nations as well as having a robust media landscape, he claimed.

On Wednesday, the business and Nigeria's National Orbit Research and Development Agency inked a partnership agreement to expand the opportunity and work together on science experiments that the mission crew will carry out in orbit. Speaking on the SERA alliance, Uche Godfrey Nnaji, Nigeria's minister of innovation and research, stated that human spaceflight was a "major objective" rather than a "random aspiration."

Nigeria has launched six satellites since 2003, but Hutchison noted that there are opportunities for further commercial involvement in the new space age, which is characterized by ambitious efforts by developing nations like India. The mission that will send a Nigerian into space, according to Phil Joyce, a senior vice president at Blue Origin who is in charge of the New Shepard program, will “inspire the next generation of space explorers.”