Blue Origin's NS20 member carry Ukrainian flag to space as sign of solidarity

Jim Kitchen, a teacher, entrepreneur, and one of the newest astronauts in Blue Origin’s NS20 mission, utilised his space trip to express solidarity toward embattled Ukraine. He carried with himself Ukraine’s flag as a symbol of support and tribute to millions of Ukrainians battered by Russia’s offensive that commenced on February 24. Speaking about his gesture following his flight on March 31, Kitchen told Space.com, “So in my passport, I brought both the Ukrainian and American flags, and I released them, just paying my respects to the situation that's occurring there now and just to let them know that our hearts collectively are with them”. 

In addition to the Ukrainian flag and passport, Kitchen took with him all of his passports which have stamps from 193 United Nations (UN) recognised countries that he has visited. With his spaceflight, Kitchen has become the first person to visit all UN-recognised countries and travel to space. "We're all just people. We're governed by different leadership structures and different governments and different borders, but we're all just human. And so I just wanted to express some humanity on this flight, and let them know that we were mindful of what's occurring around us", Space.com quoted Kitchen as saying.

Blue Origin nails 4th manned flight

Blue Origin's NS20 mission, which was its 4th manned flight, took off from its launch site in West Texas with six passengers on board. Apart from Kitchen, there were four other paying customers- Marty Allen, Marc Hagle, Sharon Hagle and George Nield along with Blue Origin engineer Gary Lai. Among the four crewed missions, this was the only one that did not have a celebrity on board as Saturday Night Live Star Pete Davidson could not make it to the spaceflight. 

However, the NS20 scripted history as it carried the first married couple, Sharon and Marc Hagle, to space in a private spacecraft. It is pertinent to mention here that the Hagles, however, are not the first couple to visit space simultaneously. The record is held by NASA astronauts Mark Lee and Jan Davis, who visited space in 1992 under the space shuttle Endeavour's STS-47 mission.

Image: Blue Origin