Crew members include former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, the first US Black astronaut candidate Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin will resume flights to space on Sunday, ending a near two-year pause of crewed operations following a 2022 mission failure. The NS-25 mission will lift off from Launch Site One in West Texas, with the launch window for the flight starting at 0830 CT (1330 GMT), the company said on Tuesday. The New Shepard rocket, which flies cargo and humans on short trips to the edge of space, has been grounded since a September 2022 uncrewed mission failed roughly a minute after liftoff from Texas, forcing the rocket's capsule full of NASA experiments to safely eject mid-flight. FILE PHOTO: A helicopter flies over a building featuring Blue Origin's logo as rocket New ...
Read MoreTag: Blue Origin
Successfully lands after taking six on a 10-minute suborbital voyage Blue Origin, the space tourism venture launched by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, completed its fourth flight with a crew on Thursday, landing successfully in rural west Texas after taking a half dozen passengers for a 10-minute suborbital joyride. The New Shepard spacecraft blasted off at 8:59 a.m. CDT (1359 GMT), and the crew capsule separated from the six-story-tall rocket a short time later as it soared to an altitude of 66 miles (106 km). University of North Carolina professor Jim Kitchen shows a flag with "194" written on it, symbolizing his visits to 193 countries on Earth and his trip to sub-orbital space, as he emerges from the capsule of Blue Origin's rocket New Shepard after landing near Van Horn, Texas, U....
Read MoreBlue Origin’s 4th astro-tourism flight set to launch without big names
Delayed for two days because of poor weather conditions The fourth commercial flight of Jeff Bezos’ space tourism venture Blue Origin, offering short suborbital joyrides to well-heeled thrill-seekers and celebrity guests, has been delayed by two days because of poor weather conditions, the company said. Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft was scheduled for liftoff on Tuesday from the company’s launch site in rural west Texas at 8:30 a.m. CDT (1330 GMT) with six would-be citizen astronauts strapped into the crew cabin atop the fully autonomous launch vehicle, standing nearly six stories tall. FILE PHOTO - A helicopter flies over a building featuring Blue Origin's logo as rocket New Shepard is prepared for the NS-18 suborbital flight mission carrying Star Trek actor William Shatne...
Read MoreJeff Bezos' Blue Origin space tourism service has postponed until March 29 a flight initially set for next week, while "Saturday Night Live" comic Pete Davidson will not be a passenger on the launch, the company has said. The company, in a brief notice first posted on Twitter, gave no immediate explanation for the change or Davidson's withdrawal from the manifest of Blue Origin's fourth commercial flight since last summer. Davidson, 28, the boyfriend of reality TV star and socialite Kim Kardashian, had just been officially named on Monday as Blue Origin's "honorary guest" to join five paying customers on the flight initially set for March 23. With "Davidson no longer able to join" the new flight, Blue Origin said it would announce the sixth crew member "in the coming days." ...
Read More"Saturday Night Live" comic Pete Davidson has been confirmed as the next celebrity in line for a ride to the edge of space courtesy of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin astro-tourism company, with his suborbital flight set for next week. The 28-year-old comedian and boyfriend of socialite and reality TV star Kim Kardashian was announced by Blue Origin on Monday as an "honorary guest" joining five paying customers for the company's fourth commercial flight since last summer. FILE PHOTO: An interior view of the Blue Origin Crew Capsule mockup at the 33rd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States April 5, 2017. REUTERS/Isaiah J. Downing Davidson, who had no immediate comment on his selection, was reported to have been in discussions with Blue Origin earlier this month. H...
Read MoreDaughter of pioneering astronaut Alan Shepard soars to space aboard Blue Origin rocket
The eldest daughter of pioneering U.S. astronaut Alan Shepard took a joyride to the edge of space aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocketship on Saturday, 60 years after her late father’s famed suborbital NASA flight at the dawn of the Space Age. Laura Shepard Churchley, 74, who was a schoolgirl when her father first streaked into space, was one of six passengers buckled into the cabin of Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft as it lifted off from a launch site outside the west Texas town of Van Horn. Billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of ecommerce company Amazon.com Inc, sits with the crew of a scheduled flight before they board Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket near Van Horn, Texas, U.S. December 11, 2021. Blue Origin/Handout via REUTERS. The crew capsule was carried aloft atop the fu...
Read MoreHaving made a career out of playing an explorer of the cosmos, William Shatner - Captain James Kirk of "Star Trek" fame - did it for real on Wednesday, becoming at age 90 the oldest person in space aboard a rocketship flown by billionaire Jeff Bezos's company Blue Origin, an experience the actor called profound. Shatner was one of four passengers to journey for 10 minutes and 17 seconds to the edge of space aboard the white fully autonomous 60-foot-tall (18.3 meters-tall) New Shepard spacecraft, which took off from Blue Origin's launch site about 20 miles (32 km) outside the rural west Texas town of Van Horn. The crew capsule returned to the Texas desert from the suborbital flight under parachutes, raising a cloud of dust. Shatner emerged gingerly from the capsule in the desert ...
Read MoreAnother milestone in billionaire’s race to open up space tourism Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, and three crewmates soared high above the Texas desert aboard his space venture Blue Origin's New Shepard launch vehicle on Tuesday and returned to Earth, a historic suborbital flight that helps to inaugurate a new era of private commercial space tourism. The spacecraft ignited its BE-3 engines for a lift-off from Blue Origin's Launch Site One facility about 20 miles (32 km) outside the rural town of Van Horn. There were generally clear skies with a few patchy clouds on a cool morning for the launch. New Shepard rocket and Blue Origin capsule taking off from Texas desert. Image captured from Live webcast/Awara Musafir The 57-year-old American billionaire flew on a voyage lasti...
Read MoreWinner of $28 million bid for seat drops out, Blue Origin to make history with unpiloted civilian space flight An 18-year-old physics student whose father heads an investment management firm is set to take the place of a person who put up $28 million in an auction to take part in the inaugural space tourism flight for billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company. Blue Origin said on Thursday Oliver Daemen will join the four-member all-civilian crew for Tuesday’s scheduled 11-minute ride to the edge of space after the auction winner, whose name had not been made public, dropped out due to unspecified “scheduling conflicts.” Daemen becomes the company’s first paying customer. His addition means that the flight is set to include the oldest person ever to go to space - 82-year-old...
Read MoreThree billionaire entrepreneurs - Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson - are each vying to usher in a new era of private commercial space travel. Here is how their rival ventures compare in the race to open up space travel. TICKETS Bezos, Branson and Musk have been investing billions of dollars in their space startups, each promising to ferry paying customers on rides to space - and it will cost a pretty penny to be part of it. Branson's Virgin Galactic is reported to have more than 600 ticket reservations already, priced around $250,000. It expects to begin a full commercial service in 2022 and eventually hopes to slash the ticket price to around $40,000. FILE PHOTO: Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos addresses the media about the New Shepard rocket booster an...
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