Jeff Bezos’ space venture Blue Origin successfully launched its fifth tourist flight to space on Saturday. Six people were carried to space above the Karman line — an internationally recognised boundary of space that lies 62 miles (100 km) above the Earth’s surface – in a typical 11-minute flight.
The flight lifted off 9:25AM EDT from Launch Site One, the company’s facility in west Texas. New Shepard consists of a rocket and a capsule, both of which are reusable. The booster comes down shortly before the capsule does, making powered vertical landings, as the first stages of SpaceX Falcon 9 orbital rockets do.
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The flight was the 21st overall for Blue Origin and New Shepard. It was the second crewed flight for the company this year, following NS-20, which launched and landed on March 31. Earlier, it was scheduled to fly on May 20, but cancelled as it faced some issues with the vehicle, which the company did not disclose.
The crew includes investor and NS-19 Astronaut Evan Dick, electrical engineer and former NASA test lead Katya Echazarreta, business jet pilot and Action Aviation Chairman Hamish Harding, civil production engineer Victor Correa Hespanha, adventurer and Dream Variation Ventures co-founder Jaison Robinson, and explorer and co-founder of private equity firm Insight Equity Victor Vescovo, Commander, USN (retd).
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Echazarreta became the first Mexican-born woman and youngest American woman to fly to space, while Hespanha was the second Brazilian to fly to space. The company conducted its fourth human flight to the edge of space with six people in March.
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