Blue Origin Set to Fly Adventurers to the Final Frontier for the First Time in Nearly Two Years

Blue Origin to Fly Oldest Person to Space in Nearly Two Years

Washington: Blue Origin is set to make a historic journey to the final frontier on Sunday, marking the first crewed flight in nearly two years for the space tourism company. The mission, named NS-25, will see six adventurers, including 90-year-old former Air Force pilot Ed Dwight, blast off from the company’s Launch Site One base in west Texas.

Dwight, a Black sculptor who was controversially spurned by NASA’s astronaut corps in the 1960s, is set to become the oldest person to go to space at 90 years, 8 months, and 10 days. This achievement narrowly surpasses Star Trek actor William Shatner, who was almost two months younger when he flew with Blue Origin in 2021.

The flight will be the seventh human mission for Blue Origin, owned by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos. The company sees these short jaunts on the New Shepard suborbital vehicle as a stepping stone to larger ambitions, including the development of a heavy rocket and lunar lander.

French entrepreneur Sylvain Chiron, another crew member, expressed his excitement about the journey, stating, “the sensation of leaving the world of men and seeing the Earth as a whole, from above, without borders, with all its fragility and beauty.”

Blue Origin faced a setback in 2022 when a rocket mishap put crewed operations on hold. However, after taking corrective steps and conducting a successful uncrewed launch in December 2023, the company is now ready for Sunday’s mission.

As the spaceship reaches the boundary of space, passengers will experience moments of weightlessness and marvel at the Earth’s curvature before the capsule reenters the atmosphere for a gentle landing in the desert.

The competition in the space tourism market is heating up, with Virgin Galactic as Blue Origin’s main rival. Virgin Galactic, which uses a supersonic spaceplane, recently resumed operations after a safety pause following an anomaly in a 2021 flight.

For Ed Dwight, Sunday’s mission is a long-awaited opportunity to fulfill his dream of space travel, decades after being denied a chance to join NASA’s astronaut corps. His journey to space represents a significant milestone in his remarkable life journey as a pilot, artist, and advocate for Black history.

Overall, the upcoming Blue Origin flight promises to reignite excitement in the space tourism industry and inspire future generations of space explorers.