After the Amazon founder journeyed to space only once, the world’s second-richest man, Jeff Bezos, paid a whopping $200 million to name a new branch of the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.
For at least 50 years, the Amazon founder’s name will be displayed atop the new Bezos Learning Center and numerous other spots across the museum.
The contribution is the largest ever given to the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum, according to the museum.
According to reports, the contribution was made when he launched into space in July 2021, with the majority of the funds going to the Bezos Learning Institution, a new science, technology, engineering, and arts (STEAM) teaching center.
Jeff Bezos paid $200 million to have his name emblazoned on a building.
The donation will pay the cost of renovations and new science, technology, engineering, and arts (STEAM) education center, according to the terms of the agreement seen by MarketWatch. It will be housed in a new structure attached to the National Air and Space Museum’s East Wing on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Along with the STEAM center, a major portion of the renovations will focus on the museum’s existing restaurant area this spring, with the goal of opening it in 2026 to commemorate the National Air and Space Museum’s National Mall building’s 50th anniversary and the United States’ 250th anniversary, according to a spokeswoman.
Bezos’ name will also be engraved on a new glass sculpture honoring all donors of $10 million or more and exhibited on a wall in the Smithsonian Castle’s Distinguished Benefactors Room, as well as another donor wall at the National Air and Space Museum in Virginia.