Blue Origin will shortly be launching its ninth space tourism flight, which will carry six private crew members on a 10-minute flight where they will experience weightlessness before coming back in to land.
The crew of NS-28 includes science communicator Emily Calandrelli, also known as The Space Gal, who was educated at MIT and who has hosted science shows on Netflix and YouTube.
You can follow along with the launch of Calandrelli and the five other crew members live on YouTube, with the flight beginning shortly:
According to Blue Origin, “This mission will be the ninth human flight for the New Shepard program and the 28th in its history. To date, the program has flown 43 humans above the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.”
Whether or not these flights count as going to space has been the subject of some debate, but the crew members on board do experience weightlessness and will enjoy stunning views of Earth as seen from the edge of space.
In addition to Calandrelli, the crew includes Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Austin Litteral, James (J.D.) Russell, and Henry (Hank) Wolfond. Sharon and Marc Hagle, who are married, are flying on New Shepard for the second time following their previous trip on the NS-20 mission in 2022.
Sharon Hagle is the founder of the SpaceKids Global science education nonprofit, which encourages children to learn about space, and Marc Hagle is a property developer. Litteral won his seat on the New Shepard as part of a giveaway, while Russell is founder of the Victoria Russell Foundation to support children’s education, and Wolfond is a fixed-wing aircraft pilot and helicopter pilot.
Blue Origin also shared the patch image for the flight. Here’s what it had to say about the patch:
“The color pink and the girl in the signature pink overalls represents Emily Calandrelli. The centerline in the “2” represents Sharon and Marc Hagle’s second flight on New Shepard. The stars represent Austin Litteral’s vision for people among the stars. The people at the bottom represents J.D. Russell’s hope for generations of people expanding their understanding of the world. The wolf in the crew capsule’s window represents Hank Wolfond.”
