NS-28: Blue Origin Launches 6 Civilians To Space In Company's 9th Human Flight

Blue Origin's first of two human-rated spacecraft, New Shepard NS-28 lifted off at 1531 UTC on Friday Nov. 22 from Launch Site One in West Texas. Aboard the gumdrop-shaped spacecraft for the 10-minute suborbital flight, are civilian astronauts Emily Calandrelli, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Austin Litteral, James (J.D.) Russell, and Henry (Hank) Wolfond.

Following main engine cutoff(MECO) and separation from crew capsule, the New Shepard's propulsion module or booster returned to the landing pad, making an engine-assisted vertical touchdown about 7 minutes after liftoff.

The crew capsule continued skyward, and reached an apogee of 106 kilometers, flying 4.8 km above the Kármán line that serves as the internationally accepted border between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. The astronauts spent about four minutes in space, before the spacecraft descended back to Earth, making a parachute-assisted "soft" touchdown just over 10 minutes after liftoff.

"This is my dream," Calandrelli, who adopted her online persona long before she booked a trip with Blue Origin, wrote on social media when it was announced she was going to be on the NS-28 mission. "I studied aerospace engineering for nearly a decade, then became the first woman in the U.S. with a national science [TV] show. It became my mission to bring representation to girls in STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics]."

"Now, I'll become one of the first 100 women in space, showing girls everywhere that they too can reach the stars," she said.

A native of West Virginia, Calandrelli is the first woman and third person to represent her home state in space (after NASA astronauts Jon McBride and Drew Morgan).

"I can't believe that [a] girl from Morgantown, West Virginia, gets to represent the 100th woman in history to fly to space." wrote Calandrelli.

The first woman to fly into space (and first woman to enter orbit) was Soviet-era cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, who launched in 1963. NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg became the 50th woman to leave Earth's atmosphere in 2008.

Among the personal items that Calandrelli took with her to space was a montage showing photos of the 99 women who flew before her. "I wanted to honor how they paved the way for women like me and how they've made it possible for the next generation of girls who want to reach for the stars to actually grab a few," she said.

Friday's mission was Blue Origin's ninth human spaceflight. NS-28's crewmembers Marc and Sharon Hagle, a married couple are on their second spaceflight, after flying on the NS-20 mission in 2022.

NS-28 crew also includes Litteral, whose seat was sponsored by the livestream shopping platform Whatnot; Russell, an entrepreneur and former federal marine, fish and wildlife game warden; and Wolfond, the CEO of a Canadian investment firm and a private pilot.