Blue Origin's New Shepard programme has celebrated another milestone as the company continues to make space accessible to civilian astronauts.

Blue Origin has successfully completed its ninth human spaceflight and the 28th flight for the New Shepard programme. The mission took off on November 22, 2024 with an astronaut crew that included: Emily Calandrelli, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Austin Litteral, James (J.D.) Russell, and Henry (Hank) Wolfond.

Husband and wife, Sharon and Marc Hagle, both flew for the second time. Including this crew, New Shepard has now flown 47 people to space (three people have flown twice).

As reported by Space News, on board was Emily Calandrelli, an author, television show host and online science communicator. In a social media post, she said she would become the 100th woman to go to space. That number, however, includes nine women who have flown on Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceflights that passed the 50-mile (80.5-kilometre) altitude used by US government agencies for awarding astronaut wings but fell short of the 100-kilometre Kármán Line used by Blue Origin as the demarcation of space. Blue Origin, in its webcast of the launch, did not mention that milestone when discussing Calandrelli.

The other three people on NS-28 were Austin Litteral, who works in risk management in the financial industry and won his seat in a contest by an online shopping platform; James (J.D.) Russell, a technology entrepreneur; and Henry (Hank) Wolfond, chairman and chief executive of Canadian investment firm Bayshore Capital.

“It’s always moving to witness an astronaut crew return from space changed by their experience on New Shepard,” says Phil Joyce, senior vice president, New Shepard. “This mission amplifies the importance of STEAM and inspiring the next generation, and we welcomed back two returning astronauts. A big thank you to all our customers for the opportunity to provide this experience, and for helping to advance our mission to build a road to space for the benefit of Earth.”

Prospective passengers interested in flying on New Shepard as an astronaut or flying a payload on a future mission can find our more via the Blue Origin website.

by Olivia Palamountain | GLOBETRENDER