Private SpaceFlight is about to launch Blue Origin’s new Shepard Rocket, entering its peak period and sending a crew member, including the fallen pop star and Jeff Bezos’ partners to the edge of space.
Blue Origin sets an appointment for the next private mission that will launch the crew of six private astronauts on the company’s new Shepard Rocket. The company announced Thursday that the NS-31, Blue Origin's 11th crew mission, will be launched from the launch site One in West Texas on Monday, April 14.
The mission will launch an all-female staff, including singer Katy Perry, TV celebrity and Oprah’s friend Gayle King and Bezos’ fiancé Lauren Sánchez. The ship will also be former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn. While some crew members make sense, the rest are expensive down-height traveling glitz add-ons, where the spoiler alerts they only float for about two minutes while the whole thing lasts no more than 11 minutes.
Blue Origin restored its private spaceflight business last year due to a launch failure of the new Shepard rocket. In September 2022, about a minute after rising, a new New Shepard escaped. Although these rocket trips are becoming more and more frequent, they still have risks.
“I'm not a secret, I'm very nervous, but also excited,” Kim said in her daily performance. CBS Morning After the announcement. “And I just ask people, when you see me on the street, please don't tell me not to go…I just want people to cheer me on.” Very good – but don't go either.
In the past, some of these private tasks included scientific payloads that were studied in microgravity environments. However, it seems to be about to touting the all-female crew, led by Sánchez, on the quest to “will challenge their view of the earth to enable them to share their stories and have lasting impacts that inspire future generations,” Lanyuan wrote.
It seems that most mission goals can be achieved from the ground, rather than through the high price you pay for New Shepard. The first seat on Blue Origin’s Rocket was sold for $28 million in a global auction in 2021. The company's space tour bus fares have not been made public, although reports have reported that the new Shepard seat is about $1.25 million.
Apart from being expensive, space flight should not only be open to Landos like Perry. Call me a purist, but what does Perry really have to do with space? It is so rash, especially in the current government's review of NASA's budget and ongoing efforts to reduce the space agency's workforce.
Yes, the goal is to make it easier for everyone to enter the space, but given the uniqueness of these trips, we certainly aren't there yet. Meanwhile, private space flight is heading towards this highly annoying era, which may detach most people from the wonders of nature and interest in exploring the universe.
