The idea resulted in the famous “Mercury 13,” led by Jerrie Cobb and formed in 1960. Yet many in the U.S. believed that space was no place for a woman, and Russia would become the first country to produce a female astronaut. For many of the Mercury 13, an elite group of women aviators, their hopes were dashed. Yet one would touch space, albeit nearly 60 years later—Wally Funk. 

Mary Wallace Funk was born in 1939 in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Flying was on her mind from an early age, and at 8 she attempted her first flight by jumping off her parents’ roof wearing a Superman cape. While this obviously didn’t work, her mother knew Funk had the grit needed to be a pilot, and at 9 she took her first flying lesson. 

By the time Funk reached high school, mechanics and aviation had captured her heart. She attempted to enroll in courses such as mechanical drawing yet was redirected to more “appropriate” subjects such as home economics. For Funk, this simply wouldn’t do, and she left high school to enroll at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. While there, she became a member of the “Flying Susies” and graduated first in her class of 24 pilots. Funk would go on to become a civilian flight instructor at 20, teaching U.S. Army officers. 

At 21, Funk volunteered for NASA’s “Woman in Space” program. Despite being younger than the recommended 25-40, she was selected and would go on to be a part of the elite Mercury 13. The rigorous tests were both physical and mental, and in some of them Funk scored even higher than John Glenn. Despite their success, however, the prevailing idea was that women didn’t belong in space, and the program would be canceled after two years.

Funk would go on to become the 58th woman to earn an airline transport pilot rating, yet could not find work with a carrier due to her gender. Not to be deterred, in 1971 she became the first female FAA flight inspector. In 1973, Funk was promoted to the FAA Systems Worthiness Analysis Program, and in ’74 she was hired by the National Transportation Safety Board as its first female air safety investigator. Funk would spend 11 years in that position until her retirement in 1985. Even in retirement, she kept herself busy as an FAA safety counselor. 

It was in 1995 that the first space shuttle to be piloted by a female (Eileen Collins) was launched. Funk was on hand with several other members of the Mercury 13 to watch their dreams come to fruition.

Yet for Funk, that wouldn’t be the end of her journey to space.

In 2021, Funk finally saw space on the first New Shepard mission, part of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin project. At the time, the trip made Funk the oldest (82) to fly to space, a record she took from Glenn (77) but was surpassed later that year by William Shatner (90). 

Funk has received countless honors and awards, including from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Smithsonian Institution, and alma mater Stephens College. Her time in aviation has included 7,000 students soloed, with 3,000 achieving a multitude of ratings.

Funk, now 85 and residing in Grapevine, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, has logged more than 18,600 flight hours in her career. So it’s little wonder why her biography,  Higher, Faster, Longer: My Life in Aviation and My Quest for Spaceflight, remains an inspiring read for flying and space enthusiasts.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Plane & Pilot.

The post Wally Funk: Breaking the Glass Ceiling, All the Way to Space appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Each nation is allotted one seat on an upcoming Blue Origin flight, and applicants can secure a slot for just $2.50.

“India has achieved remarkable milestones in its space journey the past few years, including becoming the first country to reach the moon’s southern pole,” said Joshua Skurla, co-founder of SERA, of the program’s newest partner nation.

The U.S. and India last month strengthened their collaboration on human spaceflight and space security. NASA is also training an Indian astronaut for a trip to the International Space Station as early as this year.

SERA works with countries that have had few or no citizens reach the final frontier. In April, it purchased six seats on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket that will fly citizen astronauts to the Kármán line, which at 100 kilometers is considered the boundary between Earth and space.

Formerly known as the Crypto Space Agency and funded by NFTs, the program played a role in Blue Origin’s fifth crewed spaceflight, NS-21, awarding a seat to Brazilian civil engineer Victor Hespanha, that country’s second astronaut, through a raffle.

According to SERA, more than 8 in 10 astronauts come from just three countries: the United States, Russia, and China. In June, it partnered with Nigeria’s National Space Research and Development Agency to send that country’s first citizen to space.

“Our mission is to democratize space by enabling citizens from over 150 countries with limited access to space to participate in ground-breaking research and create history,” said Skurla. “Our aim is to empower people globally to have a voice and stake in the future of space exploration.”

In an unprecedented move, SERA will allow people around the world to vote on which citizens will take the approximately 11-minute journey.

Anyone living in one of the program’s partner nations can apply to secure a seat. Applicants must be proficient in English, at least 18 years of age, and meet Blue Origin’s parameters for height, weight, physical fitness, and citizenship.

Five of the seats will be allocated to specific nations, and candidates will be voted on by citizens of those nations. The sixth will be open to anyone within a SERA-partnered country and chosen through a global vote. Remaining seat assignments will be announced later this year.

During the second quarter of 2024, voters will choose from 24 final candidates. After that, they will design and vote on the experiments the astronauts will perform during the flight. Later this year, a prelaunch docuseries will reveal the winning experiments.

Following three days of training at Blue Origin’s launch site in West Texas, the civilian crew will strap themselves into New Shepard sometime after the third quarter. The company’s next mission, NS-26, does not yet have an expected launch date.

“By giving communities the power to choose their astronauts, we ensure this mission is driven by people, for people,” said Sam Hutchison, who co-founded SERA alongside Skurla. “This approach will ignite national conversations on space and foster international collaboration in space exploration.”

Hutchison previously served as president of Boeing-backed Reaction Engines, which designs rocket engines intended for hypersonic flight.

SERA says its upcoming mission will be the first of several flights in partnership with Blue Origin. The company’s New Shepard rocket in December made a return to action following a grounding and FAA investigation into a September 2022 incident and in May launched another mission—its first crewed flight in nearly two years.

The spacecraft so far has performed as expected, which should give SERA confidence in being able to send more civilians to space in the near future.

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The unmanned cargo mission, dubbed NS-24, launched from the Blue Origin launch site near Van Horn, Texas, shortly before 11 a.m. CDT. On board its capsule were 33 payloads from NASA and research institutions, including 38,000 postcards from the company’s Postcards to Space nonprofit program.

The flight to the edge of space lasted 10 minutes and 13 seconds.

• READ MORE: Blue Origin’s New Shepard Rocket Set for Return to Action

The mission had been planned for Monday but was scrubbed due to a ground system issue.

“A special thank-you to all of our customers who flew important science [Tuesday] and the students who contributed postcards to advance our future of living and working in space for the benefit of Earth,” Phil Joyce, senior vice president of New Shepard, said in a statement following the flight. “Demand for New Shepard flights continues to grow, and we’re looking forward to increasing our flight cadence in 2024.”

In September 2022, a booster failure during the launch of the uncrewed NS-23 mission led to a mishap. While the crew capsule was not damaged, the incident prompted a yearlong FAA inquiry. Earlier this year, the company said the mishap was the result of a faulty engine nozzle.

Liftoff #NS24 pic.twitter.com/85wTik0CET

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) December 19, 2023

The post Blue Origin’s New Shepard Makes Unmanned Cargo Flight appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Blue Origin, the space tourism venture of billionaire ex-Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, announced on X, formerly Twitter, that the company’s New Shepard rocket could fly again as soon as Monday. New Shepard had been grounded by the FAA following the crash of an uncrewed escape capsule in September 2022.

The company said it’s targeting a launch window for its next New Shepard payload mission that will open December 18. The mission, NS-24, will carry cargo in the form of science and research materials and 38,000 Club for the Future postcards—a similar payload to NS-23, the mission that failed.

In a statement earlier this year, Blue Origin identified a faulty engine nozzle as the culprit of the September 2022 mishap. Both the company and the FAA reported no injuries or damage from the incident, which occurred just over one minute into the flight. Seconds later, New Shepard’s crew capsule escaped as designed.

It’s unclear whether the capsule’s retro thrust system—which is designed to enable a soft landing—fired as intended. But Blue Origin said the capsule and all payloads “landed safely” and that they would fly again on the next mission.

That flight was expected to take place a few weeks or months later. But an FAA mishap investigation—which is standard when a launch does not go as planned—kept New Shepard grounded for more than a year until it concluded in September. As part of that investigation, the regulator required Blue Origin to take several corrective actions.

Now, it appears the company is satisfied with the changes and ready to fly again. It will still need the FAA to sign off on its launch window. But that process can happen fast, as evidenced by the rapid turnaround achieved by SpaceX for the second test flight of its Starship rocket.

While Blue Origin has been tweaking and tinkering, its main rival, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, appears to have leapfrogged the company in its bid for space tourism supremacy. Virgin completed its first commercial spaceflight in June and has flown to the edge of the atmosphere every month since, carrying both cargo and passengers.

Still, Blue Origin has a head start. Bezos’ company made a handful of commercial spaceflights in 2021 and 2022, ferrying high-profile passengers like Star Trek icon William Shatner and NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan. So while the year-plus hiatus may have put it in the hole, Blue Origin remains one of the only companies to actually fly paying customers to space.

Meanwhile, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which was originally expected to debut in 2020, may have a shot at launching next year. The company has also been contracted for several NASA missions—including to the moon and Mars—and is developing the Orbital Reef commercial space station.

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The post Blue Origin’s New Shepard Rocket Set for Return to Action Next Week appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

This week, the FAA closed its mishap investigation into New Shepard 23, an uncrewed, suborbital cargo mission that crashed in September 2022. The investigation, which looped in NASA and the National Transportation Safety Board as official observers, grounded Bezos-owned Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, which in the months prior had ferried a total of 31 people to the edge of the atmosphere.

To be clear, New Shepard is not yet cleared for takeoff. That won’t happen until Blue Origin implements 21 corrective actions identified by the FAA—including an engine redesign—to prevent a similar incident. After that, the company can modify its launch license, giving it the green light to resume flying.

In a statement to FLYING and a post on X, formerly Twitter, Blue Origin confirmed it received the FAA’s notice and “[plans] to fly soon.”

We’ve received the FAA’s letter and plan to fly soon. https://t.co/J2bCKETQe7

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) September 27, 2023

But just how soon? In a March update, Blue Origin said higher-than-expected operating temperatures created a “thermo-structural failure” in one of New Shepard’s nozzles. It added that it had already begun tweaking the spacecraft and expected to fly again late this year.

“Blue Origin is implementing corrective actions, including design changes to the combustion chamber and operating parameters, which have reduced engine nozzle bulk and hot-streak temperatures,” the company said. “Additional design changes to the nozzle have improved structural performance under thermal and dynamic loads.”

The company appeared to reiterate the late 2023 target in its statement—and that may be more than just talk. Earlier this month, two sources familiar with Blue Origin’s launch manifest told Ars Technica the company is tentatively planning an uncrewed test flight for early next month. If all goes well, it could launch its first crewed mission since August 2022 in mid-February.

How We Got Here

Included in the FAA’s announcement of the investigation’s closure was an agency assessment of what went wrong last September. It agreed with Blue Origin: “Higher than expected engine operating temperatures” caused a structural failure in one of the engine nozzles.

Just over one minute into the flight, which lifted off from the company’s Launch Site One in Texas, both New Shepard and its cargo capsule reversed course back to Earth. An onboard launch vehicle system detected the issue with the nozzle, triggering an abort and separation of the capsule from the rocket (as intended) and shutting down the engine.

The capsule floated gently to the desert floor on parachutes. The propulsion module, on the other hand, was destroyed on impact. However, all debris landed within a designated hazard area, and no injuries or property damage were reported.

Now, Blue Origin will need to address the 21 actions laid out by the FAA. These include a redesign of both the engine and nozzle components and unspecified “organizational changes.” The latter is detailed in the FAA’s letter to Blue Origin, which is not publicly available because it includes proprietary data and U.S. Export Control information, the FAA said.

What’s Next?

New Shepard is the vehicle Blue Origin relies on for its space tourism business, which carries people and cargo to about 340,000 feet in altitude for a few minutes of weightlessness. The experience is similar to the one offered by rival Virgin Galactic, owned by another billionaire business mogul, Richard Branson.

So far, Blue Origin has made a handful of successful flights with New Shepard. The company’s passengers have included Bezos himself, Star Trek icon William Shatner, and Good Morning America host and former NFL defensive end Michael Strahan. Aerospace pioneer and “Mercury 13” candidate Wally Funk set several records during her flight—some since superseded. Actor and comedian Pete Davidson also booked a seat before backing out. 

While the “organizational changes” specified by the FAA are unclear, Blue Origin this week shook up its top brass with the appointment of Dave Limp, who will depart his role as senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon. Limp spearheaded the launches of products such as Alexa and Echo, known to be pet projects of Bezos.

The Amazon executive will replace outgoing CEO Bob Smith, who oversaw New Shepard’s maiden voyage, in December. Under Smith, Blue Origin has struggled to launch its New Glenn super-heavy lift rocket, missed out on lucrative Pentagon contracts to rivals SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, and faced accusations of a toxic workplace permeated with discomfort and misogyny. The firm’s Orbital Reef space station partnership with Sierra Space is also reportedly on the rocks.

Blue Origin isn’t the only company tied up with the FAA. Elon Musk-owned SpaceX faces its own mishap investigation into the April 20 crash of Starship, a super-heavy lift rocket akin to New Glenn. That investigation remains open, and as of July 31, SpaceX had yet to file paperwork outlining the corrective actions it would take. 

However, the company continues to launch droves of Starlink satellites and conduct International Space Station crew rotation missions for NASA with its Crew Dragon. Virgin Galactic, meanwhile, has flown commercial missions in back-to-back-to-back months, with a fourth planned for Thursday.

When New Shepard was first sidelined, Blue Origin looked like the clear leader in space tourism, with a half dozen commercial flights under its belt. At the time, Virgin Galactic itself was grounded and had yet to serve paying customers. 

By now, Blue Origin’s competitors have leapfrogged it in the modern space race. But with New Shepard getting closer to reintroduction, the door is still very much open for Bezos to recapture the lead.

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The post Blue Origin Flights to ‘Soon’ Resume After FAA Closes Investigation appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

First reported by CNBC and confirmed by Blue Origin to FLYING, Smith will step down to be replaced by Amazon senior vice president of devices and services Dave Limp, who recently announced his own departure.

According to Blue Origin, the changing of the guard will happen on December 4, when Smith effectively retires from his role and Limp steps in. Smith will remain with the company until January 2 “to ensure a smooth transition.”

“[Limp] is a proven innovator with a customer-first mindset,” a company spokesperson told FLYING. “He has extensive experience in the high-tech industry and growing highly complex organizations.”

The spokesperson also touted Smith’s achievements, pointing to Blue Origin’s $10 billion in customer orders and 10,000-plus employees. However, a quick assessment of the company’s business development timeline and reports of a toxic workplace culture from the past few years paint a tumultuous picture of his tenure. Could Limp help Blue Origin course correct?

Who Is Dave Limp?

Bezos probably hopes Limp is the catalyst Blue Origin needs to supplant SpaceX and Virgin Galactic as the regent of modern space travel. But how will the Amazon veteran fit at his new company?

Limp has spent the past 13 years at marketplace behemoth, where he oversaw the development of several novel, high-tech products. Some—Amazon’s Kindle, Fire TV, and Ring doorbell, for example—were successes. Others, such as Alexa and Echo speakers, were…less so. He was involved with the company’s Zoox autonomous vehicle program and its Project Kuiper internet satellite business, a planned competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink, which gives him some aerospace experience. 

According to CNBC, he worked closely with Bezos when he was still CEO of Amazon and was trusted to launch some of the billionaire’s favorite projects, Alexa and Echo. The new Blue Origin boss was also part of Amazon’s “S-Team,” a small circle of senior executives across most of the company’s business verticals.

Before joining Amazon, Limp started his career with Apple and held executive positions with software firm Liberate Technologies and smartphone maker Palm, both of which are now defunct.

“I’ve worked closely with [Limp] for many years,” Bezos wrote in a note to Blue Origin employees obtained by CNBC. “He is the right leader at the right time for Blue. Dave is a proven innovator with a customer-first mindset and extensive experience leading and scaling large, complex organizations. Dave has an outstanding sense of urgency, brings energy to everything, and helps teams move very fast.”

Note Bezos’ emphasis on speed. With Smith at the helm, Blue Origin has seemingly fallen behind competitors SpaceX and Virgin Galactic in the modern day space race. Let’s break down where things went wrong—and how Limp could right the ship.

First, the Good

“I’m very excited about the operational excellence and culture of innovation this new leader will bring to Blue, building on the foundation we’ve created over the past few years,” Smith said of Limp’s hiring in a note to Blue Origin employees viewed by CNBC.

He concluded the message with “Gradatim Ferociter,” the company’s latin motto which translates to “step by step, furiously.” The first half of that slogan more accurately describes Smith’s tenure—but let’s start with the good.

Bezos appointed Smith as CEO of Blue Origin in 2017 in a bid to accelerate the development of programs such as the reusable New Shepard suborbital launcher and the New Glenn heavy-lift rocket.

Before that, he was with Honeywell Aerospace for 13 years, serving as vice president and chief technical officer before briefly leading the firm’s mechanical systems and components business. He headed development of components in verticals including air transport, business aviation, and defense and space.

Initially, he led the build-out of Blue Origin infrastructure across the U.S. in preparation for the first suborbital launch of New Shepard. That highly anticipated maiden voyage—which carried Bezos and Star Trek actor William Shatner to the Kármán line in 2021—put the company on the map and was arguably Smith’s greatest success.

“Under [Smith’s] leadership, Blue has grown to several billion dollars in sales orders, with a substantial backlog for our vehicles and engines,” Bezos added in his note. “Our team has increased from 850 people when Bob joined to more than 10,000 today. We’ve expanded from one office in Kent [Washington] to building a launch pad at LC-36 and 5 million square feet of facilities across seven states.”

Since then, New Shepard has completed a handful of commercial launches. But Blue Origin was swiftly hit with an FAA mishap investigation in September 2022 after a booster failure during a test of the rocket’s capsule escape mechanism caused it to crash. The spacecraft hasn’t flown since, and things have gone downhill from there.

Tumultuous Tenure

Smith has also struggled to launch New Glenn, which was expected to compete with SpaceX’s Starship for heavy-lift orbital contracts from NASA and other agencies. The launcher’s maiden voyage was pushed back from 2020 to late 2022 after delays in development.

In June, it faced another setback when one of the BE-4 engines designed to power it exploded just 10 seconds into a test. The mishap could create a ripple effect for United Launch Alliance, which will use BE-4s to power its Vulcan rocket—however, the company is reportedly confident it will launch on schedule.

Meanwhile, ULA and SpaceX, arguably Blue Origin’s two biggest rivals, secured a pair of Pentagon contracts at the firm’s expense. And there’s a chance the company is snubbed again for upcoming Space Force military missions in favor of those same competitors. CNBC in July reported that SpaceX and ULA are viewed as the front runners, but “there’s a door open” for Blue Origin to swoop in.

Earlier this year, the firm won a $3.4 billion NASA contract to develop its Blue Moon lander for the space agency’s Artemis V mission, which is scheduled to return humans to the moon before the end of the decade. But that was only a half-victory, considering it missed out on the initial award—which went solely to SpaceX. Blue Origin battled the decision in court but lost.

Another NASA contract calls for New Glenn to launch two Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) spacecraft to Mars in 2024. However, there is still no firm launch timeline for the rocket.

New Shepard, meanwhile, will reportedly be back in action next month. It will need to be tested before a potential return to crewed launches scheduled for mid-February, according to Eric Berger of Ars Technica.

Berger unearthed some telling details about how Blue Origin employees perceived Smith.

“Anything is better than Bob,” an anonymous current employee told him.

Berger said he spoke to “dozens” of current and former company employees and that “virtually none of them have had anything positive to say” about Smith’s time with Blue Origin. Last year, close to two dozen anonymous workers accused the departing CEO of fostering a toxic workplace culture characterized by fear, discomfort, and misogyny.

Smith has also come under fire for high turnover, though Blue Origin has since hired aggressively, growing from around 4,000 to 10,000 employees over the past two years.

The Outlook with Limp

Under Smith’s leadership, Blue Origin—once seen as arguably the most promising of a trio of billionaire-backed space tourism firms that also includes SpaceX and Virgin Galactic—has steadily fallen off.

SpaceX, meanwhile, has launched thousands of Starlink satellites and uses its Crew Dragon capsule to conduct International Space Station crew rotation missions for NASA. At the same time, the Elon Musk-led company is dealing with a mishap investigation of its own that has grounded its massive Starship suborbital launcher.

Virgin Galactic has capitalized on both firms’ mistakes. Since June, Richard Branson’s space tourism venture has completed monthly trips to the edge of the atmosphere, each with paying customers. With three commercial missions in the books, the next, Galactic 04, is scheduled for October 5.

All of this means Limp will have some catching up to do. Outside New Shepard, New Glenn, and Blue Moon, Blue Origin is also developing the Orbital Reef private space station, and Smith in July told the Financial Times he hoped to build an international launch site. All of these initiatives will be fighting for Limp’s attention.

Most likely, the new CEO will look to prioritize one piece of the company over the others in a bid to simply get back to orbit. It’s now been more than a year since Blue Origin launched a rocket—and Bezos’ emphasis on speed hints that a rapid return to space is a priority.

New Shepard is a potential suitor for Limp’s focus. The spacecraft is now one year removed from the incident that grounded it, and it could be ready to fly again as soon as next month. Jump-starting the company’s space tourism business could also generate revenue as it struggles to turn a profit on its expensive activities, much like its competitors. Ars Technica’s Berger speculates that Bezos is likely providing about $2 billion per year to keep the dream alive.

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This morning the capsule carrying scientific experiments but no people, separated from the New Shepard rocket using the emergency mechanism. The capsule returned to Earth, but the rocket, the same kind that is used for transporting tourists to the edge of space, crashed.

The FAA and Blue Origin say there were no injuries.

• READ MORE: William Shatner Goes to Space for Real

What Happened

A Blue Origin webcast of the launch began with images of the capsule bearing the name H.G. Wells on the launch pad.

The New Shepard rocket Mission N-S 23 launched from launch site one in West Texas this morning around 08:10 ET.

The webcast shows the rocket clearing the launch tower and the flight appeared normal as the rocket, traveling at 700 mph climbed through an altitude of 28,000 feet and reached what is known as max-q, defined by the Blue Origin announcer as “When the aerodynamic stress on the rocket is at its maximum.”

At 1:03 into the flight she continues, “We’re going to throttle back, then continue up to space.”

At approximately 1:05 on the mission clock, flames appear below the capsule and it separates from the rocket. The capsule jettisons itself away from the rocket.

The next sound on the live video feed is a muffled exclamation. The narrator remains silent until 2:05 into the flight when she states, “It appears that we have experienced an anomaly with today’s flight. This wasn’t planned and we don’t have any details yet. But our crew capsule was able to escape successfully. We’ll follow its progress through landing. As you can see the drogs [parachutes] have deployed and the mains are going to be pulled out next.”

Booster failure on today’s uncrewed flight. Escape system performed as designed. pic.twitter.com/xFDsUMONTh

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) September 12, 2022

The main parachutes deployed 1:32 seconds later. The announcer notes that this flight was “A successful execution of the crew capsule escape system.”

The camera remains on the capsule as it and its 36 payloads — many of them experiments from NASA and high school students — return to Earth.

The announcer stated that as the capsule got lower the retro thrust system would fire to help “take out most of the energy in the landing in addition to the parachutes” however, it is unclear of the retro thrust system actually fire, as the capsule lands hard on the desert floor, sending up a large billowing clouds of dust.

Today’s event was the first operational activation of the New Shepard vehicle escape system.

Under optimum conditions, the rocket launches propelling the crew capsule into the atmosphere where the capsule separates from the rocket, continuing on momentum to approximately 62 miles above earth. The capsule then floats back to earth under the chutes. The rocket lands vertically on the desert floor and is reused. This particular rocket had been used successfully several times before.

• READ MORE: Billionaire Space Race: Does It Matter?

FAA Response

The FAA is responsible for protection of the public during commercial space transportation launch and reentry operations. The agency released a statement on today’s event:

“The FAA will oversee the investigation of Blue Origin’s NS-23 mishap that occurred at its Launch Site One location in West Texas. 

The anomaly that occurred triggered the capsule escape system. The capsule landed safely and the booster impacted within the designated hazard area. No injuries or public property damage have been reported. This was a payload only mission; there were no humans aboard.”

The FAA continues, “Before the New Shepard vehicle can return to flight, the FAA will determine whether any system, process, or procedure related to the mishap affected public safety. This is standard practice for all mishap investigations.”

The mission, named NS-23 was the fourth mission in 2022, but the first without humans on board.

Thus far 31 people have made the trip to the edge of space as part of Blue Origin’s suborbital space tourism business. The capsule reaches the appropriate altitude allowing the participants a few minutes of microgravity and an incredible view according to actor-turned-aeronaut William Shatner, then returns to Earth under parachutes. The entire flight takes about ten minutes.

Monday’s launch was scheduled for two weeks ago, but was postponed due to bad weather.

• READ MORE: Wally Funk Sets World Record During Space Flight

Blue Origin was founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2000. Bezos himself was one of the first to fly New Shepard during a crewed mission in 2021.

The post Uncrewed Blue Origin Capsule Escapes After Launch Mishap appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The launch, scheduled for Thursday morning, will mark the 20th spaceflight for the New Shepard missions. It was originally slated for Tuesday but was postponed due to forecasted high winds.

Jeff Bezos’ commercial space company has set many records throughout the New Shepard program, and it will do so again by sending the first husband-and-wife duo to space—Sharon and Marc Hagle.

Marc Hagle serves as president and CEO of Tricor International, a residential and commercial property development corporation, which owns over 17.4 million square feet of property around the United States.

His wife, Sharon Hagle, is the founder of SpaceKids Global—a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring young girls to pursue STEAM+ education, reaching nearly 100,000 students globally.

Other crew members include Party America CEO Marty Allen, entrepreneur Jim Kitchen, and Commercial Space Technologies President George Nield.

Saturday Night Live comedian Pete Davidson was originally set to ride onboard NS-20, but backed out for unspecified reasons. (Blue Origin has previously carried several celebrities into space, including Michael Strahand and William Shatner.) 

Blue Origin’s 20th flight of New Shepard has shifted to Tuesday, March 29. Pete Davidson is no longer able to join the NS-20 crew on this mission. We will announce the sixth crew member in the coming days.

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) March 18, 2022

In place of Davidson, New Shepard chief architect Gary Lai will round out the six-person crew. Lai joined Blue Origin in 2004 as one of the company’s first 20 employees.

• READ MORE: Blue Origin Announces Crew Member to Replace Pete Davidson

Ahead of the launch, the company revealed the design for the NS-20 patch on Twitter.

The #NS20 mission patch features unique elements representing each of our astronauts. Check out some of the designs in this patch:

The star is placed over Kent, Washington, Blue Origin’s headquarters where Gary Lai has spent 18 years advancing space technology. pic.twitter.com/tGfkwCxBWD

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) March 26, 2022

The crew will take their ride to space onboard the New Shepard rocket system, powered by the Blue Engine 3 (BE-3). The self-landing booster is capable of slowing down to 5 mph right before touchdown.

According to Blue Origin, 99 percent of New Shepard’s dry mass is reused. As for wet mass, the BE-3 is fueled by liquid oxygen and hydrogen, expelling water vapor during flight with no carbon emissions.

The crew capsule can seat up to six passengers and features the largest windows to have flown to space.

Live coverage of the launch on Blue Origin’s website will begin around 8:20 a.m. ET ahead of liftoff from Launch Site One in West Texas.

The post Blue Origin Set to Launch Next All-Civilian Crew to Space on Thursday appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Davidson—alongside Marty Allen, Jim Kitchen, Dr. George Nield, and Sharon and Marc Hagle—will lift off early in the morning on March 23. This will mark Blue Origin’s 20th flight for the New Shepard program.

The Crew

Pete Davidson
Davidson, a comedian and actor, joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2014 and has starred in multiple movies. In 2020, Davidson earned a nomination for Comedy Movie Star of 2020 at the 46th People’s Choice Awards for his film The King of Staten Island. Davidson also recently appeared in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. He’s currently part of a controversial feud with Kanye West, after entering a relationship with West’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian.

Marty Allen
Former CEO of Party America, Allen is an avid aviation enthusiast, completing his first solo flight at the age of 16. Allen is also the former CEO of California Closet Company. The future space tourist also mentors CEOs throughout the industry with his board activities.

Sharon Hagle
Hagle is the founder of SpaceKids Global, a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring students, particularly young girls, to pursue STEAM+ education. The organization partners with Girl Scouts of Citrus County, Florida to conduct competitions and annual challenges to inspire students to pursue career paths in the space industry. To this day, Hagle’s work has reached nearly 100,000 globally.

Marc Hagle
Hagle, who is married to Sharon Hagle, is the president and CEO of Tricor International, a residential and commercial property development corporation. Marc Hagle’s leadership has led to the company’s development and ownership of more than 17.4 million square feet of properties around the United States. He and his wife are experienced philanthropists for multiple charities.

Jim Kitchen
Kitchen, an educator and well-traveled entrepreneur, has dreamt of space since NASA’s Apollo missions. In the 1980s, Kitchen spent part of his college career promoting low-Earth orbit space strips for a startup, and eventually served as faculty for the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School since 2010. The entrepreneur has visited all 193 United Nations-recognized countries.

George Nield
Nield serves as president of Commercial Space Technologies, LLC, where he works to promote commercial space activities. Previously, Nield served as associate administrator for the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, where he signed off on and regulated all commercial space launch activities. Nield has also served as an assistant professor and research director at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The mission, dubbed NS-20, is currently scheduled for March 23 at 8:30 a.m. CDT and will take off from Launch Site One in West Texas. A livestream of the launch will be made available on Blue Origin’s website.

As the launch approaches, stick with FLYING for more updates.

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Successful Liftoff for First All-Civilian Space Mission

This year saw the world’s first of many all-civilian space flights, led by SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission. The three-day mission took its passengers all the way into orbit, surpassing the heights of similar launches by Blue Origin.

This mission marked the beginning of a year full of civilian spaceflight, paving the way for the commercial space industry. Thanks to these developments, a pilot or similarly trained professional is no longer needed to fly alongside customers.

Commercial-Crewed Spaceflight Takes Off

Speaking of Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ private space company sent Star Trek actor William Shatner to space aboard the NS-18. The 90-year-old celebrity became the oldest person to go to space, taking the title from 82-year-old Wally Funk, who flew on Blue Origin’s previous mission.

This year was also packed with other celebrity trips into orbit, including Michael Strahan and Alan Shepard’s daughter, Laura Shepard Churchley.

Bezos was able to personally take the trip up to space, an apparent trend-setter, after billionaire Sir Richard Branson rode on his Virgin Galactic spaceflight dubbed “Unity.” Between Bezos, Branson, and Elon Musk, this year has been highly regarded as the beginning of the “billionaire space race.”

Between Blue Origin, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, NASA, and Russia, seven civilian-crewed space flights occurred in 2021. Several more are expected in the following year.

Loads of New Satellites Joining Earth’s Orbit Amid Space Junk Crisis

While the amount of space operations around the globe continues to grow, Earth’s orbit has become littered with space junk, which could spell trouble for the International Space Station and future missions. FLYING spoke with space debris expert Brian Weeden to break down the situation.

According to consulting firm McKinsey & Company, nearly 70,000 satellites could be added to low-Earth orbit. The count is already rising, thanks to SpaceX’s ever-growing Starlink population.

NASA’s Planetary Defense Division Began its First Mission

NASA is shooting one of its spacecraft at a binary asteroid—yes, you read that right. NASA’s DART mission is the first major mission for its planetary defense division, seeking to redirect an incoming asteroid as it passes by Earth.

While the asteroid poses no threat of impacting Earth, NASA’s DART spacecraft will hurdle toward the smaller of the two bodies at nearly 15,000 mph. Even though the spacecraft is 100 times smaller than its target, NASA hopes to change its trajectory by less than one percent—enough to make a huge difference down the road.

Russia Alarms the Global Community with Major Debris-Creating Event in Orbit

Following the destruction of a Russian satellite in low-Earth orbit (LEO), thousands of pieces of debris were added to LEO and have now become a hazard to other operations, including the International Space Station. The resulting cloud of dangerous debris forced the crew onboard the ISS to take shelter, and even delayed a maintenance spacewalk.

The U.S., along with other space-faring countries, condemned Russia’s actions—as they could endanger astronauts and cosmonauts alike.

FLYING spoke with multiple experts to determine what exactly happened and how the international community will respond to Russia’s “reckless and irresponsible behavior.”

What was your favorite space story from 2021? Let us know in the comments, or tweet us @FLYINGmagazine.

The post 2021 Was a Big Year for Space appeared first on FLYING Magazine.