Blue Origin Expands Space Tourism With Successful NS-33 New Shepard Flight

Blue Origin's rocket, New Shepard, just completed its 33rd journey, carrying six people and about 1,000 postcards. The flight, named NS-33 (New Shepard 33), is New Shepard's 13th flight with humans. The spacecraft has now successfully carried 70 people in total to space.

The NS-33 flight, which took place on June 29, was originally slated for June 21. The crew members had even named themselves "The Solstice 33" because of that summer solstice date. However, their flight was postponed twice due to bad weather. Finally, around 10:39 AM on June 29, the New Shepard spacecraft took off from its Launch Site One in West Texas. Its six passengers were Allie Kuehner, Carl Kuehner (husband and wife), Leland Larson, Freddie Rescigno, Jr., Owolabi Salis, and James Sitkin. You'll find it interesting that these are not astronauts but rather attorneys, environmentalists, and other regular professionals. 


Flight NS-33 reached 105.2 km above the ground, crossing the Karman line, the official boundary between Earth and space at 100 km above ground. As the capsule hit 102km, the passengers floated weightlessly for about three minutes. They got a rare glimpse of Earth's curved horizon set against the deep black backdrop of space. Then, the capsule landed them back on Earth safely at a spot close to where they took off. The flight took 10 minutes and 33 seconds in total. 


The NS-33 flight was suborbital, meaning it followed a high arc into space instead of circling the Earth. It brought the number of humans who have experienced suborbital space flights to 123 in total. Blue Origin, launched by Jeff Bezos in 2000, made its first successful crewed flight in July 2021. With the successful completion of NS-33, Blue Origin continues to make space travel more accessible for everyday people.

Images courtesy of Blue Origin