Latest news with #NS-19
Forbes
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Recent Suborbital Spaceflight Ridicule Omits A Key Thing: Space Suits
VAN HORN, TEXAS - DECEMBER 11: Blue Origin's New Shepard lifts off from the Launch Site One launch pad carrying Good Morning America co-anchor Michael Strahan, Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of astronaut Alan Shepard, and four other civilians on December 11, 2021 near Van Horn, Texas. The six are riding aboard mission NS-19, the third human spaceflight for the company which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. (Photo by) I've been watching fallout from the recent Blue Origin all-women's suborbital trip to space. Public reaction has generally been vicious. Most social media posts have called the flight a PR stunt for the rich. The six women, the coverage says, went up on what essentially was an 11-minute Disney joy ride, then came back only to call themselves "astronauts.' The funniest social media post I've seen is a reporter greeting Katy Perry just after the pop star had exited the space capsule. "You're an astronaut now," said the correspondent. "How do you feel?" Perry's response, "Thank you very much." Then the clip quickly cuts to Jennifer Aniston on "Friends" saying that because she went to the zoo, she's now a koala bear. All humor aside, what's missing from the coverage is any mention of space suits, other than the tight designer things the six women wore. I've been harping on the subject for a while, and this is the perfect time to revisit it. If there were a sudden depressurization in the capsule during flight, the women likely would have been dead within seconds. Blood boils above 58,000 feet, the Armstrong Line, and these folks went quite a bit higher than that. As background, I had a ticket on Virgin Galactic, BO's main competitor, for 13 years, waiting in line for my chance to go to become a space tourist. But after postponement upon postponement, I got frustrated. Every year the company stated that 'next year" they'd be flying. This went on for more than a decade. It was like the Dallas Cowboys, formerly America's Team, saying that the next year would be their year, but not having been back to the Super Bowl since 1996. Ultimately, I had my VG deposit returned due to all the waiting. And to the fact that I wouldn't be wearing a space suit. U-2 flier wearing a pressurized space suit. When I flew last summer in a U-2 spy plane to above 70,000 feet, I was required to wear a bulky, claustrophobic suit, pressurized with oxygen and all of it. When I asked the pilots why they wear the suits for 12 hours at a time on their missions, they alluded to a potential depressurization in the cockpit, which would lead to a quick death, even at 70,000 feet. I mentioned that I had flown to 84,000 feet once in a MiG-25 over Russia, but without a pressure suit. They told me I was crazy. Then, when I interviewed daredevil Felix Baumgartner on the anniversary of his 128,000-foot Red Bull parachute jump, I casually asked if BO or VG offered him a free trip all the way to space (BO reportedly charges $1 million per passenger, VG about half of that), would he take it? His surprising response: "No, they would have to pay me." Why? "Because they don't wear space suits." So when we poke fun at the six women who just went up, mocking the flight as a Disney ride, maybe we aren't thinking it through. Those women were in more danger than a Disney ride. Hopefully, nothing will go south on any future flights, but it could. As to whether they're astronauts, that's a separate issue. Personally, I think to call themselves that is a slap in the face to the NASA astronauts like John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, the Shuttle fliers and the like, who actually flew their craft for their country, and did meaningful scientific work, taking on the required risks in the process. I recently spoke off the record to a BO alumni who had flown a few years ago about all of the hullaballoo. He affirmed that he'd been to space - and there's no question about that - but that he was a tourist. Astronaut is too strong a term, he said. There's nothing wrong with being a space tourist, by the way. What was BO thinking when they devised this stunt, anyway? And why isn't the company doing damage control? The participants are just digging in. When I was a student at Columbia Business School, we were required to read case studies that Harvard had prepared - examples of what a good company strategy is with a favorable outcome, as well as some strategy disasters. I'm guessing that Harvard may write a case study here. If so, hopefully participants in MBA programs will learn what not to do in a PR crisis.
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Not just Katy Perry: Here are the celebrities Blue Origin has launched to space
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. In this era of commercial space travel, Blue Origin has become a major player in turning the dream of spaceflight into reality for people with the means — including some celebrities. Case in point: Pop star Katy Perry and journalist Gayle King are part of Blue Origin's upcoming all-female spaceflight, which is set to launch on Monday (April 14). That mission, known as NS-31, also includes Aisha Bowe, Kerianne Flynn, Amanda Nguyen and Lauren Sánchez (the partner of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos), all of them notable figures in their own right. Here's a look at the other well-known people that Blue Origin has launched to suborbital space aboard its New Shepard suborbital vehicle, on brief missions that have all added to the evolving nature of space tourism. It all began with Blue Origin's inaugural human spaceflight on July 20, 2021. Bezos himself took a seat on New Shepard's NS-16 mission, fulfilling a lifelong dream and marking the dawn of his company's space tourism era. Joining him on that historic flight was female aviation pioneer Wally Funk, whose journey was decades in the making after being denied the opportunity to go to space in the 1960s. (Bezos' brother Jeff and Dutch student Oliver Daemen were the other crewmates on NS-16.) At 90 years old, legendary "Star Trek" actor William Shatner became the oldest person to fly to space aboard NS-18 on Oct. 13, 2021, wresting the title from the 82-year-old Funk. The flight was a full-circle moment, as the man who famously portrayed Captain Kirk finally experienced space for real. Upon his return, Shatner shared an emotional reflection on Earth's fragility. Television personality and former NFL star Michael Strahan was a member of Blue Origin's first six-person crew (NS-19), which flew to space on Dec. 11, 2021. Strahan played for the New York Giants from 1993 to 2007 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014, the same year he joined "Good Morning America" as a co-host. Strahan brought a football with him on NS-19 that was later put in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. YouTube star Coby Cotton of Dude Perfect fame took his trick-shot skills to a whole new altitude aboard NS-22 on Aug. 4, 2022. His flight marked a new era for influencer involvement in space travel, engaging a younger audience with the possibilities of space. More than six decades after initially being selected as the United States' first Black astronaut candidate (via a U.S. Air Force training program, which didn't turn into a NASA post), 90-year-old Ed Dwight joined the crew of NS-25, which launched on May 19, 2024. Dwight, a former U.S. Air Force captain, subsequently became a sculptor well known for his contributions to art and history. RELATED STORIES: — Katy Perry, Gayle King to blast off on star-studded all-female Blue Origin rocket launch on April 14 — Blue Origin faces backlash ahead of historic all-female spaceflight with Katy Perry — Facts about New Shepard, Blue Origin's rocket for space tourism A longtime advocate for science communication and space education, Emily Calandrelli — host of the TV series "Emily's Wonder Lab" and a former MIT engineer — flew on NS-28 on Nov. 22, 2024, becoming the 100th woman to fly to space.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin unveils crew for 10th space tourism launch
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. We now know who's flying on Blue Origin's next suborbital space tourism mission — most of them, anyway. That mission is known as NS-30, because it will be the 30th overall launch of Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket-capsule combo. It will be the 10th crewed flight for the company, which was established in 2000 by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. NS-30 will lift off from Blue Origin's West Texas launch site at an as-yet unspecified date. It will carry six people on a brief trip to and from suborbital space, and the company just revealed who five of them are. Those crewmates are Lane Bess, Jesús Calleja, Elaine Chia Hyde, Richard Scott and Tushar Shah, Blue Origin announced in an update on Tuesday (Feb. 18). Related: Blue Origin crew, including history's 100th woman to fly to space, lands safely (video) Bess is the principal and founder of Bess Ventures and Advisory, a venture capital firm based in Florida. NS-30 will be his second ride with Blue Origin; he also flew on the NS-19 mission in December 2021. (Three other people have also flown on New Shepard two times.) Calleja is a Spanish TV host, pilot and mountaineer whose "adventures have taken him to every corner of the world, including the Seven Summits, the North and South Poles, and numerous deserts, active volcanoes and ancient sinkholes," Blue Origin wrote in Tuesday's update. Chia Hyde is an entrepreneur, physicist and pilot who was born in Singapore, grew up in Australia and now lives in Florida. Scott is a reproductive endocrinologist who works as an adjunct professor at the medical schools of Yale University and the University of South Carolina (Greenville), and Shah is a partner at a hedge fund in New York City. You can learn more about these five folks in Blue Origin's update. That update mentions "an undisclosed sixth crew member," whose name we will presumably learn at some point. RELATED STORIES: — Facts about New Shepard, Blue Origin's rocket for space tourism — In photos: William Shatner launches to space on Blue Origin's New Shepard — Blue Origin launches Michael Strahan and crew of 5 on record-setting suborbital spaceflight New Shepard flights last 10 to 12 minutes from liftoff to the parachute-aided touchdown of the reusable vehicle's capsule. Passengers get to experience a few minutes of weightless and see Earth against the blackness of space. Blue Origin has not revealed how much it charges for this experience. The first crewed New Shepard flight took place on July 20, 2021, the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Bezos flew on that landmark Blue Origin mission, along with his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk and Dutch student Oliver Daemen.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin unveils crew for 10th space tourism launch
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. We now know who's flying on Blue Origin's next suborbital space tourism mission — most of them, anyway. That mission is known as NS-30, because it will be the 30th overall launch of Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket-capsule combo. It will be the 10th crewed flight for the company, which was established in 2000 by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. NS-30 will lift off from Blue Origin's West Texas launch site at an as-yet unspecified date. It will carry six people on a brief trip to and from suborbital space, and the company just revealed who five of them are. Those crewmates are Lane Bess, Jesús Calleja, Elaine Chia Hyde, Richard Scott and Tushar Shah, Blue Origin announced in an update on Tuesday (Feb. 18). Related: Blue Origin crew, including history's 100th woman to fly to space, lands safely (video) Bess is the principal and founder of Bess Ventures and Advisory, a venture capital firm based in Florida. NS-30 will be his second ride with Blue Origin; he also flew on the NS-19 mission in December 2021. (Three other people have also flown on New Shepard two times.) Calleja is a Spanish TV host, pilot and mountaineer whose "adventures have taken him to every corner of the world, including the Seven Summits, the North and South Poles, and numerous deserts, active volcanoes and ancient sinkholes," Blue Origin wrote in Tuesday's update. Chia Hyde is an entrepreneur, physicist and pilot who was born in Singapore, grew up in Australia and now lives in Florida. Scott is a reproductive endocrinologist who works as an adjunct professor at the medical schools of Yale University and the University of South Carolina (Greenville), and Shah is a partner at a hedge fund in New York City. You can learn more about these five folks in Blue Origin's update. That update mentions "an undisclosed sixth crew member," whose name we will presumably learn at some point. RELATED STORIES: — Facts about New Shepard, Blue Origin's rocket for space tourism — In photos: William Shatner launches to space on Blue Origin's New Shepard — Blue Origin launches Michael Strahan and crew of 5 on record-setting suborbital spaceflight New Shepard flights last 10 to 12 minutes from liftoff to the parachute-aided touchdown of the reusable vehicle's capsule. Passengers get to experience a few minutes of weightless and see Earth against the blackness of space. Blue Origin has not revealed how much it charges for this experience. The first crewed New Shepard flight took place on July 20, 2021, the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Bezos flew on that landmark Blue Origin mission, along with his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk and Dutch student Oliver Daemen.
