Skip to main content

Daughter of first American astronaut to launch on Blue Origin flight

 

Daughter of first American astronaut to launch on Blue Origin flight

In this article:

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is set to blast its third private crew to space on Saturday, this time including the daughter of the first American astronaut.

The spaceflight will last roughly 11 minutes, launching from the company's base in Texas and soaring to just beyond the internationally-recognized boundary of space, 62 miles (100 kilometers) high.

The six-member crew will unbuckle and enjoy a few minutes' weightlessness before the spaceship returns to Earth for a gentle parachute landing in the desert.

The launch date was pushed back because of high winds, but is now set for 8:45 am local time (1445 GMT) on Saturday.

Laura Shepard Churchley, whose father Alan Shepard became the first American to travel to space in 1961, will be flying as a guest of Blue Origin.

The company's suborbital rocket is in fact named "New Shepard" in honor of the pioneering astronaut.

Michael Strahan, an American football Hall of Famer turned TV personality, is also a guest, while there are four paying customers: space industry executive and philanthropist Dylan Taylor, investor Evan Dick, Bess Ventures founder Lane Bess, and Cameron Bess.

Lane and Cameron Bess will become the first parent-child pair to fly in space. Ticket prices have not been disclosed.

"It's kind of fun for me to say an original Shepard will fly on the New Shepard," Shepard Churchley, who runs a foundation that promotes science and raises funds for college students, said in a video. "I'm very proud of my father's legacy."

Alan Shepard performed a 15-minute suborbital space flight on May 5, 1961, just under a month after the Soviet Union's Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, orbiting the planet.

Shepard, who died in 1998, went on to be the fifth of twelve men to have set foot on the Moon.

Previous Blue Origin flights have flown the company's billionaire founder Bezos as well as Star Trek actor William Shatner to space.

Bezos, who made his fortune with Amazon envisages a future in which humanity disperses throughout the solar system, living and working in giant space colonies with artificial gravity.

This, he says, would leave Earth as a pristine tourism destination much like national parks today.

The year 2021 has been significant for the space tourism sector, with Virgin Galactic also flying its founder Richard Branson to the final frontier, and Elon Musk's SpaceX sending four private citizens on a three-day orbital mission for charity.

The industry's predicted growth means that, starting from next year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Friday it will stop awarding astronaut wings badges to commercial space travelers, though it will continue to recognize them on its website.

"The Astronaut Wings program, created in 2004, served its original purpose to bring additional attention to this exciting endeavor," said FAA Associate Administrator Wayne Monteith, in a statement.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SpaceX launches world’s first ‘amateur astronaut’ crew to orbit Earth

SpaceX launches world’s first ‘amateur astronaut’ crew to orbit Earth Launch marks biggest advancement so far in space tourism as Elon Musk’s company conducts first chartered passenger flight 01:58 SpaceX makes history with first all-civilian crew launched into orbit – video Alexandra Villarreal  and agencies Thu 16 Sep 2021 19.11 BST SpaceX has launched the world’s first crew of “amateur astronauts” on a private flight to circle Earth for three days. Wednesday night’s successful launch marked the most ambitious leap yet in space tourism. It’s the first chartered passenger flight for Elon Musk’s space company and the first time a rocket streaked toward orbit with a crew that contained no professional astronauts. “It blows me away, honestly,” the SpaceX director, Benji Reed, said on the eve of launch from Nasa’s Kennedy  Space  Center. “It gives me goosebumps even right now to talk about it.” Leading the flight is Jared Isaacman, 38, who made his fortune with a payment-pro...
Post a Comment
Read more

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson may try to beat Bezos to space: report

  Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson may try to beat Bezos to space: report By  Will Feuer June 10, 2021  |  7:15am  |   Updated Enlarge Image Virgin Galactic reportedly hopes to send Sir Richard Branson on a test flight to space over the July 4 weekend. Virgin Galactic MORE ON: SPACE Bidding on a space flight with Jeff Bezos hits sky-high price Dante’s Divine Comedy to float among the stars China moves rocket to launch pad ahead of sending first crew to space station Telescope detects hundreds of mysterious radio bursts from faraway galaxies The billionaire space race is heating up. Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson is reportedly weighing how he can beat Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to space next month. Bezos, who has a net worth of about $191 billion,  announced on Monday  that he and his younger brother will be among the passengers on Blue Origin’s first crewed flight to the edge of space on July 20. On Tuesday, a  source told ...
Post a Comment
Read more

From a Supersonic Jet to a Tourist Spaceship: How Virgin Galactic Could Change Travel as We Know It

  From a Supersonic Jet to a Tourist Spaceship: How Virgin Galactic Could Change Travel as We Know It The new business jet could travel from New York to London in 90 minutes BY  MICHAEL VERDON         Virgin Galactic Aerion and Boom, the two front-runners in the revived supersonic-aviation race, could have some serious competition if the speed of  Virgin Galactic ’s new Mach 3  business jet  matches the company’s projection of 2,300 mph. (How fast is that, exactly? Try New York  to London in 90 minutes.) The renderings of the delta-wing design show a sleek profile, with an interior that will hold  up to 19 passengers. Virgin is working with Rolls-Royce, which developed the original Concorde’s engines, on a new design intended to reach Mach 3 using sustainable aviation fuel, and recently passed a Mission Concept Review with NASA–– a first (though  very early) step toward FAA certification. “We believe that high-speed commercial ...
Post a Comment
Read more