Blue Origin launches second crewed New Shepard mission
13. 10. 2021Blue Origin launched their second crewed suborbital tourism flight on their New Shepard capsule and rocket with four passengers. The first crewed flight launched Jeff and Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen back in July. Liftoff of the NS-18 mission occurred at 09:49 AM CDT (14:49 UTC) from Blue Origin’s suborbital launch and landing facility north of Van Horn, Texas on Wednesday, October 13.
Due to unfavorable weather, Blue Origin delayed the launch by one day from the originally targeted liftoff time. The crew capsule reached an apogee of 106 km allowing the crew to experience a couple of minutes in microgravity. The New Shepard booster successfully landed using the BE-3 engine and the crew touched down safely under three parachutes.
NS-18 Crew:
- William Shatner -actor, author, director, producer, screenwriter, and singer
- Audrey Powers – Blue Origin’s Vice President of Mission & Flight Operations
- Dr. Chris Boshuizen – the co-founder of Planet Labs, served as CTO from 2010 to 2015
- Glen de Vries – co-founder of Medidata Solutions, the world’s most-used clinical research platform
