Blue Origin showed a tribute to the people of Ukraine.
Six people flew into suborbital space Thursday (March 31) at Fourth is the flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard car. One of the drivers, professor and businessman Jim Kitchen, took with him a symbol of support and solidarity for Ukraine, where Russia attacked in Feb. 24.
“So in my passport, I brought the Ukrainian and American flags, and I released them, just to improve the situation that is there now and just to show them that they are there. our hearts go out to them, ”Kitchen told Space. com during a phone call with advertisers after Friday’s flight.
Select: Join 6 flying saucers on the NS-20 mission of Blue Origin
Kitchen did not bring a single passport to the trip; He brought in 10 of them, bringing in tourism to all 193 countries recognized by the United Nations. Kitchen was the first to create those orbits on Earth and travel through space, according to Blue Teacher.
Like many other visitors, Kitchen said the view from above reveals what it really is – a unique beauty with no limits.
“We’re all people,” he said. “We are led by different kinds of leaders and different governments and different frontiers, but we are all human beings.”
Kitchen was joined on the plane Friday by four paid customers: Marty Allen; Sharon Hagle, founder of SpaceKids Global Education; her husband Marc Hagle, president and CEO of economic development company Tricor International; and George Nield, president of Commercial Space Technologies, LLC, who served as executive director for the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation from 2008 to 2018.
Sharon and Marc Hagle became the first couple to fly together. They weren’t the first duo to reach the space, however; He was NASA astronauts Mark Lee and Jan Davis, who flew on Endeavor’s STS-47 spacecraft in 1992.
The sixth passenger was on the tour Friday – dubbed the NS -20, because it was the 20th overall race for a Shepard Hou car – is Blue Origin employee Gary Lai, lead author of the New Shepard system. Lai flew for free, the seat previously reserved for “Saturday Night Live” star Pete Davidson. and back after the missionary was postponed from his first day of March 23.
The NS-20 is very special for Lai, as you can imagine.
“I know I’m thinking about what this knowledge means for our astronauts, and seeing myself is a joy,” Lai said in a phone call after Friday’s flight. “It’s 10 times more powerful than I thought, or anything I’ve ever experienced in my life physically, mentally, emotionally.”
The New Shepard has a rocket and a capsule, both of which can be reused. The rocket returns to Earth to release power, and the autonomous capsule slowly lands under the parachutes. It takes New Shepard 10 to 11 minutes to fly from hauling to hitting the capsule.
Riders have three to four minutes of restlessness and see the Earth in the blackness of the sky. Blue Origin did not disclose how much it would cost for a seat on the car.
Mike Wall is the author of “Outside“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; edited by Karl Tate), a book about exploring alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or at Facebook.
