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Blue Origin’s New Shepard performs second manned spaceflight with oldest person in space

In its suborbital flight, the spaceship climbed to an altitude of over 100 km where the four space travelers experienced weightlessness

NEW YORK, October 13. /TASS/. US Blue Origin’s New Shepard spaceship successfully performed its second manned suborbital flight, according to a live broadcast on the website of the company belonging to American billionaire Jeff Bezos.

The carrier rocket blasted off at 09:50 local time (5:50 p.m. Moscow time) from a spaceport near the town of Von Horn, located in the western panhandle of Texas. In its suborbital flight, the New Shepard spaceship climbed to an altitude of over 100 km where the four space travelers experienced weightlessness.

Shortly before that, the spaceship separated from the carrier rocket, which landed in normal mode at the spaceport. The spacecraft landed several minutes later with the help of parachutes several kilometers from the rocket.

Actor William Shatner, who starred in the 1966-1969 Star Trek TV series, was among the four passengers aboard the spaceship. The 90-year-old Hollywood celebrity became the world’s eldest person to go into space. He performed the suborbital flight along with Blue Origin Vice President of Mission and Flight Operations Audrey Powers, former NASA engineer and Planet Labs co-founder Chris Boshuizen and Vice Chairman of Dassault Systèmes' Life Sciences and Healthcare, Glen De Vries. Initially, the launch was scheduled for last Tuesday but was delayed for a day over strong winds at the launch site.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacerocket lifted off for its first suborbital flight on July 20, carrying the Company’s founder, billionaire Jeff Bezos among its passengers. The US billionaire ranked among the world’s wealthiest persons, went into space together with his junior brother Mark, 82-year-old woman aviator Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen from the Netherlands.

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