Blue Origin recently sent six people to space on a suborbital spaceflight that marked a significant milestone for the company. The NS-32 mission, which took place on May 31, carried six individuals from diverse backgrounds, including Texas, Mexico, Panama, Canada, and New Zealand.
The flight was part of Blue Origin’s standard NS-32 flight, which has become a familiar routine for the company. The vehicle lifted off from Launch Site One in West Texas at 9:39 am Eastern and reached an altitude of 105 kilometers before landing just 10 minutes later. This marked the 12th crewed flight of New Shepard, with the vehicle now having carried a total of 64 people.
The mission also made history for two individuals: Jaime Alemán from Panama became the first Panamanian to go to space, while Mark Rocket from New Zealand became the country’s first person to reach orbit. The flight was the fourth this year for Blue Origin, with three carrying passengers and one a payload-only flight that simulated lunar gravity.
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp reiterated his commitment to the New Shepard program, stating that it is both a good business opportunity and a valuable testbed for testing technologies for other programs. According to Limp, there is an insatiable demand for space travel experiences, but it remains challenging to execute successfully. He emphasized that even if New Shepard was not a lucrative venture, it would still be flown due to its value as a technology testing platform.
Limp highlighted several examples of how the data from New Shepard’s flights is being used in other programs, including flight-testing avionics for the New Glenn launch vehicle and testing the lidar system of the Blue Moon Mark 1 lunar lander.
Source: https://spacenews.com/blue-origin-performs-12th-crewed-new-shepard-suborbital-flight