spacetoday.net: Blue Origin launches first crewed New Shepard mission

Blue Origin launches first crewed New Shepard mission

Posted: Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 4:48 PM ET (2048 GMT)
New Shepard liftoff on first crewed flight (Blue Origin)

Blue Origin successfully performed the first crewed launch of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle Tuesday with founder Jeff Bezos and three others on board. New Shepard lifted off from the company's West Texas site at 9:12 am EDT (1312 GMT), with the capsule reaching a peak altitude of about 107 kilometers before landing 10 minutes later. Bezos was joined on the flight by his brother Mark, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen. Blue Origin executives said before the launch they were ready to start flying people after 15 uncrewed test flights, and saw no need to fly company employees as test astronauts first.