At 9:25 a.m. Eastern time on June 4, the blue origin new Shepard orbiter lifted off in West Texas carrying six space tourists to carry out the fifth manned mission NS-21. At 9:35, with the help of the parachute, the crew cabin landed safely, raising dust; The booster of the aircraft landed early about three minutes ago. The whole flight process of the new Shepard sub orbiter lasted about 10 minutes, the maximum ascent speed was 3604 km / h, and the crew cabin reached an altitude of about 107 km.
The booster returned to the new Shepard sub orbiter consists of a rocket booster and a crew compartment, both of which can be reused. The booster vertically launches the crew cabin about 100 kilometers above the earth, and then returns to the ground by itself. The crew cabin enters a weightless state for a few minutes, and then returns to the ground under the parachute cushion. The whole process lasts about 10 minutes. Blue origin said on social media that the be3 engine is driven by clean burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and the by-product during flight is water vapor.
This mission is the 21st flight mission of blue origin and the fifth manned flight of the new Shepard sub orbiter. The NS-21 mission was originally scheduled to be launched on May 20, but the plan was postponed two days before the launch because the aircraft backup system failed to meet the performance expectations.
This flight is the second manned flight of the new Shepard sub orbiter this year. In 2021, blue origin will send 14 people to the "Carmen line" through three flights. In February this year, Bob Smith, chief executive of blue origin, said that it was expected to "easily double" this year.
The six passengers in the landing mission are evandick, an investor and ns-19 suborbital passenger, Katya echazarreta, an electrical engineer and former NASA test director, Hamish Harding, a business aircraft pilot, Victor Correa hespanha, a 28 year old civil engineer Jasonrobinson, the adventurer who founded the commercial real estate company, and victorveccovo, the co-founder of the private equity company.
Among them, evandick is a "repeat customer" of the new Shepard suborbital aircraft. Last December, he participated in the new Shepard ns-19 suborbital travel mission. This mission is his second flight aboard the new Shepard aircraft. He once said that in the ns-19 mission, it felt like climbing out of the sea after living under the sea for a lifetime.
Katia echazarita was the first Mexican born woman to fly into space. She received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2019. After graduation, she worked in NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory for nearly four years. At present, she is studying for a master's degree in electrical and computer engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Hamish Harding is the chairman of action aviation, a business aircraft brokerage company, and also a business aircraft pilot. In 2019, he and Terry virts, former commander of the international space station, piloted the Gulfstream g650er aircraft to set a new record for the world's fastest global flight. He went to the South Pole twice. In 2021, he and victorviscovo dived 36000 feet (about 10973 meters) underwater in a two person submersible.
In addition, Victor Correa hespania is the second Brazilian to fly to space. He obtained sponsorship by purchasing NFT (non homogenous token) and got seats for this flight.