Blue Origin carried 6 passengers to the edge of space after two years

Blue Origin's rocket carried passengers to the edge of space for the first time after nearly two years of suspension due to a failed unmanned test flight.

The New Shepard rocket and passenger capsule took off at 9:36 p.m. on May 19 Hanoi time from Blue Origin's facility on a private farm in West Texas, according to CNN . NS-25, Blue Origin's 7th manned flight to date, carried 6 passengers including venture capitalist Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, founder of French beer company Brasserie Mont-Blanc, software engineer Software and businessman Kenneth L. Hess, retired accountant Carol Schaller, pilot Gopi Thotakura and Ed Dwight, retired US Air Force commander were selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to become candidates. America's first black astronaut.

The New Shepard rocket carried 6 passengers to the edge of space. (Photo: Blue Origin).

Despite completing training at the Aerospace Research Pilot School and being nominated by the US Air Force, Dwight did not ultimately become a NASA astronaut. During the Blue Origin flight, he reached the edge of space at age 90, becoming the oldest person to fly to that altitude, according to a company spokesman.

The rocket booster landed safely two minutes before the passenger compartment. During the mission, the crew traveled three times faster than the speed of sound, at speeds of over 3,218 km/h. The rocket carried the passenger capsule across the Kármán line at an altitude of 100 km above the Earth's surface, the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and space. Passengers experience several minutes of weightlessness and have the opportunity to view the Earth through the cabin window.

On September 12, 2022, the New Shepard rocket and spacecraft carrying a series of scientific equipment encountered problems. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which licenses commercial rocket launches and is responsible for ensuring public safety, investigated the incident. Investigation results revealed that the engine nozzle malfunctioned due to experiencing higher temperatures than expected. To fix the problem, Blue Origin changed the design of the combustion chamber, where fuel mixes with the oxidizer in the engine, and adjusted operating parameters, data the company uses to model safe flight .

The above changes combined with a successful unmanned science mission in December 2023 help the company restart flights to the edge of space. Before the incident in September 2022, the New Shepard rocket had undergone 22 consecutive successful missions, including 6 passenger flights.