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Take a tour inside Blue Origin’s crew capsule for space tourists
On the same day that Blue Origin set a new record for the most launch and landings for a single rocket booster, the company offered its first-ever video tour of the inside of its crew capsule.
Blue Origin, set up by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2000, has built the capsule for its New Shepard rocket, which has already taken multiple uncrewed flights since its first outing five years ago.
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The capsule, when certified for human flight, will carry up to six space tourists and researchers at a time on short sub-orbital space trips high above Earth.
At first glance, it’s the capsule’s enormous windows that really stand out. Described by Blue Origin as the largest windows to ever fly in space, they’ll afford passengers aboard the capsule stunning views of our planet from around 340,000 feet up — slightly above the Karman Line that’s widely considered as the starting point of space.
The reclining seats certainly look the part, too, offering travelers plenty of comfort during their trip of a lifetime. They won’t be sitting in them the whole time, either, as they’ll be able to unbuckle for a few minutes of weightlessness midway through the adventure.
For extra safety, the base of each seat includes a scissor mechanism to reduce any downward force experienced on landing, though the capsule’s parachutes will of course slow its speed significantly before it reaches the ground.
The capsule also includes numerous cameras so that travelers aboard the spacecraft will be able to share their memories with everyone back on terra firma — just be sure to know when to stop going on about it at dinner parties.
During the ascent, the capsule will reach speeds of around 2,200 mph. Following the separation of the capsule from the booster at around 250,000 feet, the capsule will go on to reach a peak altitude of around 340,000 feet. The entire experience from launch to landing will last around 11 minutes.
Blue Origin isn’t the only company planning to offer out-of-this-world trips to high-paying tourists.
Virgin Galactic, backed by billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, is moving toward the launch of a service similar to Blue Origin’s, while SpaceX is planning more ambitious trips , including to the International Space Station.
Despite the excitement surrounding what would undoubtedly be an incredible experience, there are those who oppose the idea , describing it as “a wholly unnecessary use of resources by a very small elite of people and organizations” and which may cause damage to the environment.
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Blue Origin has successfully launched a six-person crew to the edge of space for the first time. The company, founded by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, took a crew of private astronauts including a football star and the daughter of an astronaut on a 10-minute flight to the boundary between Earth and space in its NS-19 mission.
The mission, using a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket, blasted off from Van Horn in Texas at 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT) on Saturday, December 11. The full crew consisted of four paying passengers (including a father and his child, the first time such a pair has flown on the same spaceflight), plus Blue Origin guests Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of the first U.S. astronaut Alan Shepard, and former New York Giants football star and current TV host Michael Strahan.
Replay: New Shepard Mission NS-19 Webcast
Blue Origin is making final preparations for the third crewed launch of its New Shepard rocket.
Blue Origin is gearing up for its third crewed flight to the edge of space, with the mission set to carry six people -- two more than its previous crewed missions.
Scheduled for Thursday, December 9, the crew of Blue Origin's next suborbital space flight will include a couple of special guests, namely Laura Shepard Churchley, the eldest daughter of Alan Shepard, who was the first American to fly to space; and Good Morning America co-anchor Michael Strahan.
New Shepard’s 25th Mission Includes America’s First Black Astronaut Candidate
Blue Origin today revealed the six-person crew flying on its NS-25 mission. The crew includes: Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, Gopi Thotakura, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, who was selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as the nation’s first Black astronaut candidate but was never granted the opportunity to fly to space.
This mission will be the seventh human flight for the New Shepard program and the 25th in its history. To date, the program has flown 31 humans above the Kármán line.
Meet the Crew
In 1961, Ed was chosen by President John F. Kennedy to enter training at the Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS), an elite U.S. Air Force flight training program known as a pathway for entering the NASA Astronaut Corps. In 1963, after successfully completing the ARPS program, Ed was recommended by the U.S. Air Force for the NASA Astronaut Corps but ultimately was not among those selected. He entered private life in 1966 and spent a decade as an entrepreneur before dedicating his life’s work to using sculpture as a medium to tell the story of Black history. He’s spent the last five decades creating large-scale monuments of iconic Black figures, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, among many others. His more than 130 public works are installed in museums and public spaces across the U.S. and Canada. Ed was born in 1933 and raised in Kansas City, KS.
Ed’s seat is sponsored by Space for Humanity , a nonprofit changing global perspectives by democratizing access to space for all of humanity, with additional support from the Jaison and Jamie Robinson Foundation .
Mason Angel
Mason is the founder of Industrious Ventures, a venture capital fund supporting early-stage companies that enable or progress new industrial revolutions. Mason is an active member in his family’s foundation and will use this mission to inspire children and advance partnerships with nonprofits focused on STEM in early education. He spends his free time skiing or hiking in the Rocky Mountains and can often be found with his dog Leo, named for low Earth orbit.
Sylvain Chiron
Sylvain is the founder of the Brasserie Mont Blanc, one of the largest craft breweries in France. Sylvain was born in the French Alps and is a lifelong aviator and skier. He earned his pilot’s license at age 16. After spending several summers in Florida taking additional flying lessons and watching Space Shuttle launches, Sylvain entered mandatory service in the French military, where he served as a ski instructor for the French Air Force and NATO pilots. Following the military, he pursued an international MBA at Temple University and moved to Tokyo to study business in Japan. Sylvain and his family are based in Savoy, France, where he’s also involved in philanthropy focused on children’s education and nature preservation.
Kenneth L. Hess
Ken is a software engineer and entrepreneur who shaped today's technology-based family history industry when he developed the Family Tree Maker product line in the 1990s. The company was acquired by Ancestry.com in 2003. In 2001, Ken gave back by founding Science Buddies, a K-12 nonprofit created to level the playing field and improve STEM literacy by inspiring students through free, personalized, hands-on projects in all areas of science, including space exploration. Science Buddies has reached one-quarter billion users. Ken’s lifelong passion for space exploration is in his DNA, with numerous early American pioneers in his mother’s lineage and many engineers and technicians in his father’s.
Carol Schaller
Carol is a retired CPA. In 2017, her doctor told her she would likely go blind. She has since traveled to 25 countries around the world, visited Mount Everest Base Camp, trekked to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest of Uganda to see mountain gorillas, visited the South Pole, and camped in a tent in the desolate Antarctic plain at -20 degrees. Seeing Earth’s thin layer of atmosphere in the blackness of space will fulfill a lifelong dream. Carol and her husband of 40 years live on a farm in Lumberville, PA, with a view of the stars, two cows, 100 chickens, a dog, and a dancing parrot.
Gopi Thotakura
Gopi is a pilot and aviator who learned how to fly before he could drive. He’s co-founder of Preserve Life Corp, a global center for holistic wellness and applied health located near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. In addition to flying jets commercially, Gopi pilots bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes, as well as gliders and hot air balloons, and has served as an international medical jet pilot. A lifelong traveler, his most recent adventure took him to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Gopi is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Each astronaut will carry a postcard to space on behalf of Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future . This program gives students access to space on Blue Origin’s rockets, including an all-digital method to create and send postcards, which can be found here . The Club’s mission is to inspire and mobilize future generations to pursue careers in STEAM for the benefit of Earth.
From an environmental standpoint, nearly 99% of New Shepard’s dry mass is reused, including the booster, capsule, engine, landing gear, and parachutes. New Shepard’s engine is fueled by highly efficient liquid oxygen and hydrogen. During flight, the only byproduct is water vapor with no carbon emissions.
The flight date will be announced soon.
Follow Blue Origin on X , Instagram , Facebook , LinkedIn , Threads , and YouTube , and sign up on BlueOrigin.com to stay current on all mission details.
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Blue Origin's NS-21 space tourism launch: When to watch and what to know
NS-21 is scheduled to launch on Saturday (June 4) at 9:00 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT).
- What time is the launch?
- Who will launch on New Shepard?
- What is the mission?
- What is the experience?
- Where is the launch
- When can you go?
Blue Origin will fly six people into suborbital space this week on the company's fifth crewed mission.
The flight, known as NS-21, is the 21st flight of the New Shepard vehicle overall (hence the name). Liftoff is set for Saturday (June 4) at 9:00 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) from the company's Launch Site One near Van Horn, Texas, weather permitting.
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.
Passengers on board include NS-19 spaceflyer and investor Evan Dick, Katya Echazarreta (whose seat is sponsored by the nonprofit Space for Humanity), business jet brokerage founder Hamish Harding, Victor Correa Hespanha (whose seat was sponsored by a cryptocurrency organization), commercial real estate entrepreneur Jaison Robinson and private equity investor Victor Vescovo.
Here's everything you need to know about the flight.
In photos: Blue Origin's 1st New Shepard passenger launch with Jeff Bezos
What time is Blue Origin's launch, and can I watch?
The launch of New Shepard's fifth crewed flight will be broadcast Saturday (June 4), with coverage likely starting at approximately 8:00 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) at BlueOrigin.com and here at Space.com, if possible. Liftoff is expected at 9:00 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) , but that could change depending on weather and technical issues.
New Shepard consists of a reusable rocket and capsule, and its flights tend to last about 11 minutes from liftoff to touchdown. Past webcasts have included the launches and landings, ground views of the capsule going into space, and at times, footage of the passengers greeting people on the ground after landing.
The rocket is designed to land vertically, shortly after liftoff. The crew capsule descends separately under parachutes and touches down on Earth a few minutes after the booster does.
Blue Origin plans to stream these events live, and Space.com will simulcast if possible. The company also plans mission updates through @BlueOrigin on Twitter.
Each New Shepard flight brings its customers and guests above the 62-mile (100 kilometers) Kármán line considered to be the boundary of space by the International Aeronautical Federation. (Not everyone agrees, however; suborbital space tourism competitor Virgin Galactic tends to fly just below the Kármán line, and the two companies have sparred over where space actually begins.)
Who is Blue Origin launching on New Shepard?
New Shepard's fifth crewed mission will carry six passengers but no pilot, as the space capsule is an automated system. The crew will include:
Dick is making his second spaceflight aboard New Shepard, having been a participant in the NS-19 mission of Dec. 11, 2021. He is a pilot, engineer, investor and managing member of Dick Holdings, LLC. His charitable and volunteer support includes the Darwin Foundation, Population Relief International Corp. and Starfighters Aerospace, according to Blue Origin.
Katya Echazarreta
Echazarreta, born in Guadalajara, will become the first Mexican-born woman to reach space. Her seat was sponsored by the nonprofit Space for Humanity . She co-hosts the YouTube series "Netflix IRL" and "Electric Kat" on the CBS show "Mission Unstoppable." She spent nearly four years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, working on space missions such as the Perseverance Mars rover .
Hamish Harding
Harding chairs the business jet brokerage company Action Aviation. He is a South Pole explorer and holds several aviation records, including a 2019 milestone with retired NASA astronaut Terry Virts that broke a round-the-world mark for aircraft flying over the north and south poles.
Victor Correa Hespanha
Correa Hespanha, 28, is a civil production engineer from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, whose seat was sponsored by the Crypto Space Agency. He will become the second Brazilian to fly in space, according to Blue Origin.
Jaison Robinson
Jaison Robinson, a finalist on the TV show "Survivor: Samoa" in 2009, founded the commercial real estate company JJM Investments and co-founded Dream Variations Ventures with his wife, Jamie. Robinson enjoys scuba diving, skydiving and other adventure activities.
Victor Vescovo
Vescovo, a retired U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence officer, is co-founder of the private equity investment firm Insight Equity. He has completed an "Explorer's Grand Slam," summiting the highest mountains on all seven continents and also skiing to the North and South poles. He is a commercially rated multi-engine jet and helicopter pilot, as well as a certified submersible test pilot, according to Blue Origin.
What will happen on the flight?
This newest mission marks New Shepard's 21st flight, so it has the designation NS-21. (Most of the capsule's missions have been payload research flights or uncrewed tests.)
This will be the fifth crewed mission. Blue Origin's debut crewed flight occurred on July 20, 2021 and sent four people into space, including founder Jeff Bezos .
The company's next three missions flew on Oct. 13 , 2021 (featuring "Star Trek" captain William Shatner); Dec. 11 , 2021 (starring "Good Morning America" host and former NFL star Michael Strahan) and March 31 , 2022 (with no celebrity passenger, though "Saturday Night Live" actor Pete Davidson was on the original passenger list ).
New Shepard is named after NASA astronaut Alan Shepard , who became the first American to reach space on May 5, 1961. (His daughter, Laura Shepard Churchley, flew on the Oct. 13 New Shepard flight.)
Passengers aboard New Shepard reach suborbital space and experience " weightless " conditions for about three minutes. While Blue Origin does not yet advertise its per-seat pricing to the public, competitor Virgin Galactic is currently selling seats for $450,000 each.
Infographic: How Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket works
No pilots fly on New Shepard, as the system is fully autonomous. During landing, the rocket uses a ring and wedge fins for aerodynamic stabilization and to achieve a soft landing. The capsule uses a parachute, and each mission lasts roughly 11 minutes.
Blue Origin advertises New Shepard flights as unforgettable experiences, mentioning attributes such as "big, beautiful windows," its maximum altitude and "building the road to space" among its marketing tools . Blue Origin also plans to bring more research payloads into space in the coming years.
What will Blue Origin passengers experience?
Blue Origin passengers typically receive roughly 14 hours of preflight training over a few days, including basic flight and emergency procedures. By contrast, NASA astronauts spend at least 4.5 years getting ready for a six-month spaceflight: that's 2.5 years of basic training plus two years of mission training, often on top of previous jobs with related experience in science, piloting, remote living or emergency procedures.
During launch, Blue Origin passengers wear jumpsuits supplied by the company, rather than spacesuits. Blue Origin has said this apparel choice makes it easier to move around during weightlessness, and to look out the window.
A Blue Origin seat auction in 2021 featured a terms and conditions document for potential passengers with requirements such as ascending seven flights of launch tower stairs in less than 90 seconds.
Such requirements don't seem overly taxing; the company has already flown elderly people, among them "Star Trek" star William Shatner (age 90 at the time of his flight) and "Mercury 13" aviator Wally Funk (then 82.)
While suborbital spaceflights are much briefer than NASA's space station excursions, any spaceflight involves numerous potential risks , including fire, cabin depressurization and handling G-loads (forces of gravity). New Shepard crewmembers are trained to unstrap themselves in 15 seconds in case of emergency.
In late September 2021, 21 past and current Blue Origin employees (nearly all of them anonymous) wrote an essay alleging that Blue Origin was rushing to launch immediately to accrue revenues, possibly compromising spaceflight safety along the way. Two weeks later, Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operations, Audrey Powers, flew to space successfully on New Shepard.
Blue Origin also points to its track record in discussions of safety. New Shepard has successfully been recovered, along with its booster, on every flight except the first one, NS-1 .
Blue Origin uses its RSS First Step (RSS is short for "Reusable Space Ship") for crewed flights. A different New Shepard capsule, called RSS H.G. Wells, is used for uncrewed science flights.
Where does Blue Origin launch New Shepard from?
Blue Origin launches from a facility called Launch Site One, which is in a remote desert area of West Texas, 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the town of Van Horn.
The company keeps the facilities closed to the public, aside from paying customers who receive a short tour of the support facilities and spacecraft, according to a short tour video that Blue Origin previously released.
When could I launch to space with Blue Origin?
You can book a flight via the Blue Origin website , but the company has not yet publicly disclosed its pricing or its long-term flight schedule. Blue Origin probably has a passenger backlog given that crewed flights began less than a year ago, but the company has not released much detail along these lines.
There are other options available, if you have the means. Virgin Galactic flights retail for $450,000 per seat . Two other companies, World View and Space Perspective, are developing balloon-based systems for stratospheric journeys, for $50,000 and $125,0000 per seat, respectively. Both of those companies aim to begin commercial operations in the mid-2020s.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 5:50 p.m. EDT on May 31 with the new planned launch date of June 4. Blue Origin had been targeting May 20 for the NS-21 launch but pushed it back to investigate a possible issue with the New Shepard vehicle.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace . Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or on Facebook .
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Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, " Why Am I Taller ?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace
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