1st New Zealander reaches space on Blue Origin flight
May 31 (UPI) -- Blue Origin's 12th human spaceflight carried the first New Zealander into space and back on Saturday morning in West Texas.
The flight carried six passengers beyond the Karman Line, which is the internationally established boundary between space and Earth's atmosphere at an elevation of 62 miles, Space.com reported.
Among the passengers was Mark Rocket, who is an aerospace executive from Christchurch, New Zealand, and is that nation's first citizen to reach space.
Rocket changed his surname many years ago in honor of his passion for space travel, TVNZ1 reported on May 22.
"Ever since I was a kid, I've always been fascinated by space technology and space travel," he said. "We live in a solar system, which is vast; a galaxy, which is vast; and this incredible universe, which is just hard to imagine."
Rocvket's fascination with space led to a career in aerospace, and before the flight he said he was looking forward to experiencing "3Gs of rocket-powered flight up to space."
Rocket is the president of Aerospace New Zealand and ownsKea Aerospace, which is developing a solar-powered, unmanned aircraft capable of reaching the stratosphere to collect high-resolution data of the Earth below it.
Other crew members
The flight also carried K-12 STEM teacher Aymette Medina Jorge, former Panamanian ambassador to the United States Jaime Aleman and radiologist GretchenGreen into space, according to Blue Origin.
Also aboard the spaceflight were businessman Jesse Williams and entrepreneur Paul Jeris.
The six passengers were weightless for about three minutes while getting a unique view of the world from space.
Upon landing back on Earth, Green called the experience "perfection."
"There are very few things in life that were true perfection," Green told Space.com. "When I looked out at space and back down to the Earth, [it] was perfect."
32nd successful spaceflight
The spaceflight was the 32nd for Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin and its New Shepard program and launched at 8:39 a.m. CDT from Blue Origin's Launch Site One about 30 miles north of Van Horn near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The New Shepard launch vehicle included the capsule that carried its passengers and a booster rocket. The capsule and booster rocket are reusable.
The booster rocket separated from the capsule about 2.5 minutes into the flight, which allowed the capsule to continue its ascent into space before returning to Earth.
The autonomous capsule used a propulsive system to slow its descent while making a vertical landing on a concrete pad near where it launched.
New Shepard is named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space in 1961 and 10 years year was the fifth person to walk on the moon.
The program is intended the ferry humans and scientific payloads into space.
"We thank our customers for trusting us to give them the opportunity to appreciate Earth's fragility from above," said Phil Joyce, senior vice president of New Shepard.
Joyce said the experience "truly transforms those who embark on it."
Blue Origin's New Shepard program has carried 64 people into space and back, including singer Katy Perry and CBS broadcast Gayle King.
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