On Thursday, Blue Origin successfully launched its New Shepard rocket, carrying six tourists to the edge of space, marking the company’s first human spaceflight in nearly two years. The mission, designated N-26, lifted off from Blue Origin’s spaceport in Texas around 8:08 am local time (6:38 am IST). This marked the 26th flight of the New Shepard rocket and the eighth time it carried humans into space.
Three minutes after launch, the RSS First Step capsule detached from the New Shepard rocket booster. The booster then successfully landed back on Earth three minutes later. The capsule followed suit, touching down on Earth just three minutes after the booster’s landing, completing a spaceflight lasting approximately six minutes.
As reported by Space.com, the tourists aboard N-26 experienced moments of weightlessness while briefly crossing into space. Unlike NASA’s missions to the International Space Station (ISS) or SpaceX’s upcoming Polaris Dawn mission, which will see astronauts spend five days in space, this Blue Origin flight took tourists to the edge of Earth for a short 10-minute journey from launch to return.
The N-26 mission marks the return of Blue Origin’s human spaceflights after a two-year hiatus. The company suspended flights in 2022 following a failure of an uncrewed New Shepard mission. This successful launch highlights Blue Origin’s continued commitment to space tourism and the growing trend of private space exploration.
