Blue Origin recently launched their latest crewed spaceflight. The trip was the first to have no celebrity passengers.
Blue Origin's NS-20 Crewed Flight
A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launches from Launch Site One in West Texas north of Van Horn on March 31, 2022. - The NS-20 mission carries Blue Origins New Shepard Chief Architect Gary Lai, Marty Allen, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Jim Kitchen, and Dr. George Nield into space.
Blue Origin's New Shepard space vehicle recently took flight from the company's own Launch Site One, located in West Texas. The flight last Thursday, March 31, started at 9:58 AM.
The New Shepard carried a crew of six individuals. The trip's goal is to fly into the suborbital region of space. After ten minutes, the team's capsule returned to Earth by landing straight in the desert near the launch site.
While exiting the vehicle, New Shepard passenger Sharon Hagle said that the trip presented the most beautiful perspective she had ever witnessed.
The new mission by Blue Origin is called the NS-20. It serves as the New Shepard vehicle's 20th spaceflight. The Thursday launch is the fourth among the Blue Origin flights to date in terms of carrying a crew.
The NS-20 is the first flight of Blue Origin that did not feature any known celebrities.
The first manned launch of New Shepard carried the Blue Origin CEO and founder Jeff Bezos. Two other individuals joined the crew and the billionaire aviation expert, Wally Funk. This flight commenced on July 20, 2021.
The second crewed mission of the company was held in October 2021 and included Star Trek star William Shatner on board. The third launch was performed in December of the same year. It was joined by NFL Hall of Famer and Good Morning America lead Michael Strahan.
No Celebrities Aboard New Shepard's Fourth Crewed Flight
The NS-20's celebrity-filled boarding pattern was anticipated by many. However, the short-lived practice was broken until the actor/comedian and Saturday Night Live resident Pete Davidson backed out from the mission following the delay of the fourth New Shepard flight due to unspecified reasons.
The fourth launch was delayed from March 23 to March 29 but eventually carried out on March 31.
Davidson's seat was given to longtime Blue Origin member and chief architect of the New Shepard system Gary Lai.
Astronomy specialist and Blue Origin member Sarah Knights, a member of the crew, explained that there were no words to express how their experience manifested throughout the flight. Knights assisted in preparing the astronauts of the NS-20 for the flight.
Lai flew to space with five paying customers. The NS-20 crew members include Commercial Space Technologies president George Nield, Party America ex-CEO Marty Allen, SpaceKids Global founder Sharon Hagle, University of Carolina expert and entrepreneur Jim Kitchen, and Tricor International CEO and president Marc Hagle.
Kitchen coincidentally broke a record through the Thursday flight, as it made him the first to visit space in 193 countries associated with and recognized by the United Nations, Space reports.
Nield was a previous associate administrator of the Office of Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration. Before the agency, Nield was part of NASA's Flight Integration Office.
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