After an almost two-year hiatus, Jeff Bezos’s commercial space company Blue Origin triumphantly launched a crew of six passengers to the edge of outer space. The historic flight, designated NS-25, marked the company’s seventh crewed mission.
The New Shepard rocket and capsule took off from Blue Origin’s private facility in West Texas on Sunday at 9:36 a.m. CT, signalling the end of a pause that began in 2022 following the failure of an uncrewed test flight. The rocket booster propelled the passenger capsule beyond the Kármán line, a region 100 kilometres (62 miles) above Earth’s surface, often recognized as the boundary of outer space.
Inside the capsule, the six passengers, who had paid a substantial sum for their celestial adventure, experienced the thrill of weightlessness and witnessed breathtaking views of Earth below. The Blue Origin NS-25 crew included Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, Gopi Thotakura, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, aged 90, who became the oldest to soar to such heights. Notably, Dwight was selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as the nation’s first Black astronaut candidate but has never had the opportunity to fly.
After a few minutes of weightlessness at the flight’s peak, the rocket booster landed safely, followed by the capsule’s touchdown at 9:46 a.m. CT, as reported by CNN.
This successful launch marked Blue Origin’s return to crewed flights after overcoming a malfunction in September 2022, when a New Shepard rocket and capsule carrying scientific instruments failed one minute into flight, with the rocket appearing to burst into flames. The company completed an uncrewed science mission in December 2023, paving the way for the resumption of crewed flights.
With this mission, New Shepard has flown 37 people into space, solidifying Blue Origin’s position in the burgeoning space tourism industry.