Next Blue Origin NS-21 To Launch with First Mexican-Born and Second Brazilian

On 9 May 2022, Blue Origin, Amazon’s commercial space program announced the crew of its New Shepard mission NS-21 and six customer astronauts with varied backgrounds.

Evan Dick an ATP-rated pilot who previously flew on the NS-19 mission in Dec 2021; Katya Echazarreta, currently pursuing a masters degree in electrical and computer engineering, and previously worked on five missions at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, most notably Perseverance Rover and Europa Clipper. Ms. Echazarreta will be the first Mexican-born and youngest American woman to fly to space; Hamish Harding, a business jet pilot and deep-dive expert; Jaison Robinson, an adventurer and former contestant on Survivor: Samoa; Victor Vescovo, a commercially-rated multi-engine jet and helicopter pilot well as a submersible test pilot. Rounding out the customer astronaut collective is Victor Correa Hespanha, a civil production engineer who will become the second Brazilian to fly to space.

The flight date is not yet known, but in the interim, the author expects there will be promotional events and press rounds to bring everyone up to speed and learn more about each of the paying customers. On the topic of paying customers, it’s a bit difficult getting an exact figure, some sources state $200,000 to $300,000 per seat, and talks of auction prices being skewed in the neighborhood of $20-28m!

According to the information released, Katya Echazarreta and Victor Hespanha’s seats were ‘sponsored’  by Space For Humanity, and Crypto Space Agency Respectively.

FMI: https://blueorigin.com; https://spaceforhumanity.org, https://www.csa.xyz