New Shepherd Safely Launches Four Commercial Astronauts To Space And Back

Blue Origin successfully completed New Shepard’s first human flight Tuesday, the 52nd anniversary of the first moon landing, with four private citizens onboard. The crew included Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen, who all officially became astronauts when they passed the 62+ mile high Kármán Line, the internationally recognized boundary of space (and significantly higher than the Virgin Galactic flight).  

Upon landing, the astronauts were greeted by their families and Blue Origin’s ground operations team for a celebration in the West Texas desert. 

There were a number of notable achievements...

• Our dear friend, Wally Funk (82), became the oldest person to fly in space -- and possibly the person who has heretofore had the most fun.  
• Oliver Daemen, 18, was the first ever commercial astronaut to purchase a ticket and fly to space on a privately-funded and licensed space vehicle from a private launch site. He also became the youngest person to fly in space. 
• New Shepard became the first commercial vehicle under a suborbital reusable launch vehicle license to fly paying customers, both payloads and astronauts, to space and back. 
• Jeff and Mark Bezos became the first siblings to ever fly in space together. 

“Today was a monumental day for Blue Origin and human spaceflight,” said Bob Smith, CEO, Blue Origin. “I am so incredibly proud of Team Blue, their professionalism, and expertise in executing today’s flight. This was a big step forward for us and is only the beginning.” 

Blue Origin expects to fly two more crewed flights this year, with many more crewed flights planned for 2022. 

Gradatim Ferociter, Indeed...

FMI: www.BlueOrigin.com