Blue Origin delays launch of human spaceflight from Texas: When could liftoff happen now?
The six people selected for Blue Origin's next human spaceflight will have to wait a little longer before they can board a spacecraft that will take them more than 60 miles high.
The spaceflight company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos opted to postpone its June 21, 2025, launch of a mission known as NS-33. The mission, named for Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft, is preparing to make its 33rd trip to the edge of space from the company's rural launch facility in West Texas.
Of those missions, 12 so far have had people on board, including some well-known public figures and celebrities.
When the next group of passengers makes their brief voyage above Earth's atmosphere, they will join more than 60 others who have made the trip since Bezos himself flew on the maiden crewed flight in 2021.
Here's what to know about Blue Origin's next human spaceflight, including when it could take place following the delay.
Blue Origin's spaceflights on the New Shepard vehicle take up to six people on 11-minute voyages above the Kármán Line – the 62-mile-high internationally recognized boundary of space.
Blue Origin's next crewed launch was due to get off the ground Saturday, June 21. The company first opted to delay the mission to Sunday, June 22 due to "persistent high winds" before announcing at 5:48 a.m. CT that mission operators were once again postponing the launch "due to weather."
As of Monday, June 23, a new target launch date has not been announced.
"We're assessing our next launch opportunity," Blue Origin said.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos, best known for founding Amazon, is the founder of the private space technology company Blue Origin.
Bezos himself boarded Blue Origin's New Shepard for its maiden crewed voyage in July 2021, which came after the spacecraft flew on 15 flight tests beginning in 2012. For nearly four years since its first crewed mission, the New Shepard spacecraft has served as a powerful symbol of Blue Origin's commercial spaceflight ambitions amid a growing space tourism industry.
In addition to sending space tourists on brief joy rides to the edge of space, Blue Origin has also increasingly sought to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Blue Origin's massive New Glenn rocket, which flew on its inaugural flight test in January 2025, is also being developed for future spaceflights. At 320 feet tall, the spacecraft rivals SpaceX's 400-foot Starship in size.
Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launches take place in Texas at the company's private ranch facility known as Launch Site One.
The facility is located 30 miles north of the town of Van Horn in Culberson County – more than 140 miles east of El Paso near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The passengers on the next mission, whose names Blue Origin announced on Friday, June 13, are a group of mostly conservationists and business leaders. When the New Shepard gets off the ground again, the six people selected to board it will join 64 others who have flown on the spacecraft across 12 previous human spaceflights.
Here's a look at the passengers:
Allie Kuehner, an environmentalist who serves on the board of Nature is Nonpartisan, a nonprofit organization advocating for bipartisan solutions to environmental issues
Carl Kuehner, who chairs Building and Land Technology, a real estate development, investment and property management firm
Leland Larson, a philanthropist and former CEO of School Bus Services and Larson Transportation Services – both family-owned public transportation businesses based in Oregon
Freddie Rescigno, Jr., CEO of Commodity Cables, an electrical company he founded in 2001
Owolabi Salis, an attorney and a financial consultant
Jim Sitkin, a retired lawyer from California
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Blue Origin rocket launch in Texas delayed: What time, day is liftoff?
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