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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin takes six people into space for 11 minutes

It was the second crewed flight for the company this year, following NS-20, which launched and lan

The crew of NS-21, fifth flight by Blue Origin (Image: Blue Origin)

Blue Origin, the space tourism venture of Jeff Bezos, successfully launched its fifth crewed flight on Saturday. The launch was delayed due to a problem with the New Shepard rocket’s backup system. The fourth flight of the company, which took off in March, successfully landed in Texas after carrying six passengers. The flight lifted off 9:25 AM EDT from Launch Site One, the company’s facility in west Texa.

The New Shepard rocket carried six passengers, “It was an honor to fly these individuals,” said Phil Joyce, the company’s senior vice president. “Each mission is an opportunity to provide another six people the life-changing experience of witnessing the beauty and fragility of our planet from space,” he added.

The crew included investor and NS-19 Astronaut Evan Dick, business jet pilot and Action Aviation Chairman Hamish Harding, electrical engineer and former NASA test lead Katya Echazarreta, adventurer and Dream Variation Ventures co-founder Jaison Robinson, civil production engineer Victor Correa Hespanha and explorer and co-founder of private equity firm Insight Equity Victor Vescovo, Commander, USN.

It was the second crewed flight for the company this year, following NS-20, which launched and landed on March 31.

It took them about 10 minutes to reach an altitude of about 350,000 feet, and they experienced a few minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth. This flight is part of Blue Origin’s ongoing effort to make space travel a reality. Other companies such as SpaceX, which is headed by Elon Musk, and Virgin Galactic, which is owned by Richard Branson, are also trying to make space travel a reality.

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