HOUSTON (KIAH) A quick trip into outer space is once again a go for Blue Origin. Six more people are ready to head into suborbital space this month on the company’s fourth crewed mission.
The New Shepard spacecraft is scheduled to lift off on March 29, carrying Blue Origin employee Gary Lai and five paying customers: Marty Allen, married couple Sharon Hagle and Marc Hagle, Jim Kitchen and George Nield. Because it’s an automated system, no pilot will be on board.
New Shepard consists of a rocket and a capsule, both of which are reusable. Each flight of the vehicle lasts about 11 minutes. Taking past webcasts as a guide, you should be able to see views of the rocket launching and landing, the capsule going into space, and potentially some footage of the spaceflyers greeting people on the ground post-flight.
The mission is known as NS-20, because it will be the 20th flight of a New Shepard vehicle. It is set for 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) from the company’s Launch Site One near Van Horn, Texas, depending on weather. Blue Origin will webcast the liftoff live, likely beginning about one hour before launch. You can watch it here at Space.com, courtesy of Blue Origin, or directly via the company.
The flight plan calls for the rocket to land vertically shortly after liftoff and for the crew capsule to descend independently under parachutes, arriving on Earth a few minutes after the booster.
New Shepard is named after Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American to reach space on May 5, 1961. (His daughter, Laura Shepard Churchley, flew on the Oct. 13 New Shepard flight.)
New Shepard passengers are “weightless” in suborbital space for about three minutes during each mission. Blue Origin has not yet disclosed seat pricing to the public; competitor Virgin Galactic is currently selling seats for $450,000 each.
So who are these new travelers?
Gary Lai, is the senior director and chief architect of the New Shepard system, who joined Blue Origin in 2004 and was one of the company’s first 20 employees. (Jeff Bezos founded the company in 2000.) “His prior positions include senior director of design engineering, system architect, crew capsule element lead, NASA commercial crew development program manager, lead systems engineer and pathfinding lead with responsibility for advanced research and development,” Blue Origin representatives wrote in a mission description. “Gary has been involved in product development, strategic planning and business development for all Blue Origin product lines, including the New Glenn orbital launch vehicle, rocket engine programs and Blue Moon.”
Lai stepped in to replace actor Pete Davidson, who had agreed to fly when the launch date was March 23 but had to back out when it slipped six days.
George Nield, current president of Commercial Space Technologies, LLC , and past holder of a variety of positions across the space industry. His resume of past work includes associate administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation and manager of the flight integration office for NASA’s space shuttle program. He also held positions at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Orbital Sciences Corp. (today, through mergers, a part of Northrop Grumman) and the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Sharon Hagle, founder of SpaceKids Global, which was established in 2015. The nonprofit aims to interest students, especially young girls, in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics). Among its various activities, SpaceKids Global flies postcards to space via Blue Origin’s nonprofit organization Club for the Future.
Marc Hagle, husband of Sharon and president and CEO of a property development corporation, Tricor International. The company has developed and owned more than 17.4 million square feet (1.6 million square meters) of properties across numerous sectors, according to Blue Origin’s mission description. The Hagles are philanthropists for several charities in the arts, sciences, health and education. Incidentally, back in 2013 they were reported to be early purchasers of Virgin Galactic tickets, according to USA Today; it’s unclear if they still plan a future flight with that company.
Marty Allen, an angel investor and CEO of multiple companies. He oversaw Party America’s bankruptcy restructuring and helped change it to a nationwide retailer. He also led California Closet Company, a home organization firm, to high sales and profits.
Jim Kitchen, an entrepreneur and faculty member of the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. He is said to have been inspired by watching the Apollo program’s rocket launches in Florida as a child. He also promoted low Earth orbit space transportation for an unnamed startup in the 1980s and has visited all 193 countries recognized by the United Nations, according to the Blue Origin mission description.
