Blue Origin NS-25 was a sub-orbital spaceflight mission, operated by Blue Origin, which was launched on 19 May 2024 using the New Shepard rocket.[1][2]
| Mission type | Crewed sub-orbital spaceflight |
|---|---|
| Mission duration | 9 minutes, 53 seconds |
| Apogee | 106 km (66 mi) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | RSS First Step |
| Manufacturer | Blue Origin |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 6 |
| Members | |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 19 May 2024, 14:35:09 UTC |
| Rocket | New Shepard (NS4) |
| Launch site | Corn Ranch, LS-1 |
| Contractor | Blue Origin |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 19 May 2024, 14:45:02 UTC |
| Landing site | Corn Ranch |
 Blue Origin NS-25 mission patch | |
NS-25 was the first crewed New Shepard flight since NS-22 in August 2022. The New Shepard fleet was grounded following a September 2022 engine failure on an uncrewed mission. The vehicle resumed flight in December 2023.[3]
NS-25 carried a crew of six to a maximum altitude of around 106 km.[4] At T+03:12, the crew experienced weightlessness, and at T+03:31, the capsule passed the Kármán line.[5] The booster landed 7 minutes after launch, while the capsule, deploying only 2 of its 3 parachutes, touched down 10 minutes after liftoff. Launch commentators assured that the capsule is designed to land safely with only two parachutes.[6][7]
Crew
edit| Position | Crew | |
|---|---|---|
| Tourist |  Mason AngelFirst spaceflight | |
| Tourist |  Sylvain ChironFirst spaceflight | |
| Tourist | Ed Dwight First spaceflight | |
| Tourist | Kenneth Hess First spaceflight | |
| Tourist | Carol Schaller First spaceflight | |
| Tourist |  Gopichand ThotakuraFirst spaceflight | |
Ed Dwight is often cited as the first African-American astronaut candidate. He made it to the second round of a 1961 Air Force program from which NASA selected astronauts, but was not selected. When he eventually flew as a space tourist on the Blue Origin suborbital flight at age 90 years, 253 days, he became the oldest person to reach space.[8][9]
References
edit- ^ "New Shepard's 25th Mission Includes America's First Black Astronaut Candidate". Blue Origin. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
- ^ Mike Wall (2024-04-04). "Blue Origin will launch Ed Dwight, the 1st-ever Black astronaut candidate, to space on next New Shepard rocket flight". Space.com. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
- ^ Foust, Jeff (2024-04-05). "Blue Origin to resume crewed New Shepard flights". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
- ^ Foust, Jeff (May 19, 2024). "Blue Origin resumes crewed New Shepard suborbital flights".
- ^ "Replay: New Shepard Mission NS-25 Webcast". YouTube. 2024-05-19. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Wall, Mike (2024-05-19). "Blue Origin launches 1st crewed spaceflight since August 2022 (video)". Space.com. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Davis, Wes (2024-05-19). "All the news about Blue Origin's first crewed flight since 2022". The Verge. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ We Could Not Fail: The First African Americans in the Space Program, Chapter 5, University of Texas Press, Austin, TX, 2015, pp. 86-104
- ^ Blue Origin launches six tourists to the edge of space after nearly two-year hiatus, CNN, Deblina Chakraborty and Jackie Wattles, May 19, 2024