Blue Origin Flies Third Crewed New Shepard Mission of 2024 

Blue Origin flew a crew to the edge of space on the New Shepard rocket on Friday in its ninth human spaceflight mission. The civilian astronaut crew included TV host and space communicator Emily Calandrelli, known for Netflix and Youtube science shows. 

During the 10-minute mission, the New Shepard rocket launched from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas. The crew capsule separated successfully from the booster, giving the crew a few minutes of weightlessness. 

After separating from the crew capsule, the New Shepard booster successfully returned to Earth, touching back down on the landing pad about seven minutes and 25 seconds into the mission. This was the 12th flight for the booster. 

The crew capsule reached an apogee of 347,661 feet above ground level, and returned to Earth, landing with parachutes after 10 minutes and 15 seconds of total mission time. 

This was the ninth human spaceflight mission overall, and the third of 2024. Blue Origin has launched New Shepard four times this year, with one mission carrying 12 payloads and no passengers. 

In addition to Emily Calandrelli, the crew included married couple Sharon Hagle and Marc Hagle, who flew on their second Blue Origin mission after NS-20 in March 2022. The other passengers were Austin Litteral, J.D. Russell, and Hank Wolfond. 

While Blue Origin is active with the suborbital New Shepard rocket, the company is preparing for the first launch of New Glenn, a heavy-lift rocket designed to launch satellites and a variety of missions. Blue Origin debuted a photo of a full New Glenn rocket assembled at Cape Canaveral ahead of its first launch, set to take off before the end of this year. 

More from Via Satellite: Emily Calandrelli was a guest on Via Satellite’s On Orbit podcast in 2021 

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