Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket is set for its first commercial crewed flight on Tuesday, July 20, 2021—the 52nd anniversary of Apollo 11's moon landing.
Just a week earlier, Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic team completed their inaugural official (non-test) suborbital flight aboard VSS Unity, experiencing four minutes of weightlessness at around 85 km altitude. Now, the spotlight shifts to Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and its New Shepard mission.
Tune in to the live broadcast of New Shepard's inaugural crewed flight starting at 1:30 p.m. ET (French time noted in original) on BlueOrigin.com. Liftoff is targeted for 3:00 p.m., though schedules may shift due to weather or technical issues.
On this, the 16th New Shepard flight, passengers will cross the Kármán line at over 100 km altitude for roughly 10 minutes of weightlessness. The capsule will then parachute back to Earth, while the reusable booster returns to the West Texas launch site.
The four-person crew includes Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark Bezos.
Joining them is Wally Funk, 82, the first female FAA inspector and a graduate of the 1960s Women in Space program—which mirrored Project Mercury training for women pilots, though none flew at the time. Funk will become the oldest person in space, surpassing John Glenn's 1998 record (age 77).
Rounding out the crew is Oliver Daemen, 18, a Dutch student and son of hedge fund manager Joes Daemen. Originally finalists in Blue Origin's auction (where an anonymous bidder paid $28 million but withdrew for work reasons), the Daemens secured the seat. Daemen will set the record as the youngest person in space, topping Gherman Titov's 1961 mark (age 25).
