Blue Origin successfully launched six passengers, including a NASA-sponsored researcher and the youngest woman to fly in space, on a sub-orbital trip from Jeff Bezos‘ West Texas launch site at 9:07 am (local time) on Thursday.
This mission marked the company’s eighth crewed flight.
University of Florida researcher Rob Ferl, philanthropist Nicolina Elrick, adventurer Eugene Grin, Vanderbilt University cardiologist Elman Jahangir, American-Israeli entrepreneur Ephraim Rabin, and University of North Carolina senior Karsen Kitchen were all on board.
The New Shepard crew capsule, powered by a hydrogen-fueled rocket, launched straight up through clouds and reached a maximum speed of 2,238 mph before the rocket’s BE-3 engine shut down, as per the reports by CBS News.
Crew experience and achievements
During the mission, the crew enjoyed approximately three minutes of weightlessness and remarkable views of Earth from an altitude of 345,000 feet, or 65 miles. NASA and the US Air Force consider 50 miles to be the threshold of space, while the international boundary is 62 miles. By both measures, the New Shepard capsule passed into the lower reaches of space.
The reusable booster safely returned to the Texas launch site, touching down on a concrete pad shortly after separating from the capsule. The crew capsule itself took a bit longer to descend, using three large parachutes to ensure a gentle touchdown at 9:17 a.m. (local time). The entire mission, from launch to landing, lasted 10 minutes and eight seconds.
Once on the ground, the crew members exited the spacecraft, greeted with hugs and smiles from family and friends. Rob Ferl, a professor at the University of Florida, conducted NASA-funded research to study how genes react to the transition to and from weightlessness.
“The ride was incredibly smooth; I was so impressed with the ride up,” Ferl said after landing. “But being there, the darkness of space, there’s no way to talk about it. There’s no way to talk about how impressive space is and the Earth below. The science went well; everything worked like it was supposed to. It couldn’t have been a better experience.”
Youngest woman in space
Karsen Kitchen, at 21 years old, became the youngest woman to fly in space. She expressed excitement upon landing, frequently hugging her father Jim, who flew on an earlier Blue Origin mission in 2022.
“When she was a little girl, she told me definitively she was going to be an astronaut,” said Jim Kitchen before the launch. “It’s emotional. It’s emotional to see someone who’s wanted to go to space and see it actually come true. To have that dream fulfilled is amazing.”
Blue Origin’s future plans
Blue Origin designs and markets the New Shepard rocket and spacecraft for space tourism, human-tended research, and unpiloted experiments.
The company is also developing a larger orbit-class rocket named the New Glenn, set to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon lineup.
The first New Glenn rocket launch is tentatively scheduled for October 13 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, with the goal of sending NASA’s two ESCAPADE probes to Mars to study the solar wind’s interplay with the Martian atmosphere.
This mission marked the company’s eighth crewed flight.
University of Florida researcher Rob Ferl, philanthropist Nicolina Elrick, adventurer Eugene Grin, Vanderbilt University cardiologist Elman Jahangir, American-Israeli entrepreneur Ephraim Rabin, and University of North Carolina senior Karsen Kitchen were all on board.
The New Shepard crew capsule, powered by a hydrogen-fueled rocket, launched straight up through clouds and reached a maximum speed of 2,238 mph before the rocket’s BE-3 engine shut down, as per the reports by CBS News.
Crew experience and achievements
During the mission, the crew enjoyed approximately three minutes of weightlessness and remarkable views of Earth from an altitude of 345,000 feet, or 65 miles. NASA and the US Air Force consider 50 miles to be the threshold of space, while the international boundary is 62 miles. By both measures, the New Shepard capsule passed into the lower reaches of space.
The reusable booster safely returned to the Texas launch site, touching down on a concrete pad shortly after separating from the capsule. The crew capsule itself took a bit longer to descend, using three large parachutes to ensure a gentle touchdown at 9:17 a.m. (local time). The entire mission, from launch to landing, lasted 10 minutes and eight seconds.
Once on the ground, the crew members exited the spacecraft, greeted with hugs and smiles from family and friends. Rob Ferl, a professor at the University of Florida, conducted NASA-funded research to study how genes react to the transition to and from weightlessness.
“The ride was incredibly smooth; I was so impressed with the ride up,” Ferl said after landing. “But being there, the darkness of space, there’s no way to talk about it. There’s no way to talk about how impressive space is and the Earth below. The science went well; everything worked like it was supposed to. It couldn’t have been a better experience.”
Youngest woman in space
Karsen Kitchen, at 21 years old, became the youngest woman to fly in space. She expressed excitement upon landing, frequently hugging her father Jim, who flew on an earlier Blue Origin mission in 2022.
“When she was a little girl, she told me definitively she was going to be an astronaut,” said Jim Kitchen before the launch. “It’s emotional. It’s emotional to see someone who’s wanted to go to space and see it actually come true. To have that dream fulfilled is amazing.”
Blue Origin’s future plans
Blue Origin designs and markets the New Shepard rocket and spacecraft for space tourism, human-tended research, and unpiloted experiments.
The company is also developing a larger orbit-class rocket named the New Glenn, set to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon lineup.
The first New Glenn rocket launch is tentatively scheduled for October 13 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, with the goal of sending NASA’s two ESCAPADE probes to Mars to study the solar wind’s interplay with the Martian atmosphere.
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