Blue Origin successfully launches six new astronauts in 4th crewed flight under NS20

Blue Origin successfully completed its 20th mission with the launch of NS20 on March 31 from its launch site in West Texas. In what was the fourth manned mission of the company, six new people, five paying customers and one Blue Origin engineer, experienced their first-ever sub-orbital flight. The flight lasted for a total of 10 minutes and the crew members were exposed to about three minutes of weightlessness. 

The New Shepard rocket separated from the astronaut capsule mounted atop around two-and-a-half minutes into the flight. After pushing the capsule above the Karman line, which is at an altitude of 100 kilometres, touchdown on Launch Site One making it another successful landing for the NS booster. 

Blue Origin launches first married couple in private spacecraft

The NS20 mission turned out to be historic as Blue Origin launched the first married couple- Marc and Sharon Hagle in a private spacecraft in its fourth crewed flight. Sharon is the CEO of nonprofit SpaceKids Global, which aims to encourage girls to excel in STEAM+ education, whereas the president and CEO of property development corporation Tricor International. The duo, who are famous for taking up challenging tasks such as swimming with humpback whales and descending into the caves of New Zealand had registered for Blue Origin’s flight tickets in May and were selected in December 2021. 

This new record is an addition to Blue Origin’s decorated portfolio which includes several other world records. The company actually holds four Guinness World Records which include launching the oldest person (William Shatner at 90 years old), the youngest person (Oliver Daemen at 18 years old) and launching a pair of siblings (Mark and Jeff Bezos). The company’s fourth record is becoming the first company to conduct a commercial suborbital flight by carrying paying customers. 

Among the crew members were four others- Blue Origin engineer Gary Lai, Party America CEO Marty Allen, entrepreneur Jim Kitchen, and president of Commercial Space Technologies, LLC, Dr. George Nield.

Image: Blue Origin