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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is scheduled to launch its sixth New Shepard rocket this year on Saturday, a mission that will mark the first time the company has launched six passengers at once.
Called NS-19, this New Shepard mission will carry a crew of two guests and four customers: astronaut Alan Shepard’s daughter, Laura Shepard Churchley, TV presenter and star NFL Michael Strahan, space industry executive Dylan Taylor, investor Evan Dick, venture capitalist Lane Bess and his son Cameron Bess.
The company is currently targeting NS-19 taking off at 9:45 a.m. EST.
The crew of NS-19 considers their trip to space. From left: Laura Shepard Churchley, Michael Strahan, Evan Dick, Lane Bess, Cameron Bess and Dylan Taylor.
Blue origin
The NS-19 mission that will carry Blue Origin for 14 people is launched into space in 2021. The year has seen a flurry of private human spaceflight, with three US companies carrying passengers through. edge of space or all the way up to orbit.
The rocket will launch from Blue Origin’s private facility in West Texas, aiming to reach an altitude of over 100,000 kilometers (or more than 340,000 feet) before safely returning to Earth a few minutes later. From start to finish, the launch is expected to last about 11 minutes. The crew will experience about three minutes of weightlessness.
New Shepard’s bullet will accelerate three times the speed of sound to cross the 80-kilometer (about 50-mile) boundary that the US uses to mark the edge of space. The sphere flew autonomously, without a pilot, and returned under a set of parachutes to land in the Texas desert.
The New Shepard booster is reusable and will attempt to return and land on a concrete platform near the launch pad.
The company also flies New Shepard in cargo missions, such as the one in August, carry the study mass in the capsule.
In this photo provided by Blue Origin, Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket sits on the launch pad of a spaceport near Van Horn, Texas, Tuesday, July 20, 2021.
Blue Origin | Reuters
