Blue Origin completes 26th suborbital spaceflight mission
Six astronauts return safely
Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, completed its eighth human suborbital spaceflight on August 29, 2024, and the 26th flight for the New Shepard rocket programme. Travelling in a pressurised crew capsule, the astronaut crew included Nicolina Elrick, Rob Ferl, Eugene Grin, Dr Eiman Jahangir, Karsen Kitchen, and Ephraim Rabin.
Including this crew, which lifted off from Launch Site One in West Texas, New Shepard has flown 43 people into suborbital space. Named in honour of Alan Shepard, the first American in space, New Shepard is Blue Origin’s fully reusable suborbital rocket system designed specifically for human spaceflight. The spacecraft operates autonomously, with no pilots on board.
On their 11-minute mission, the six crew members ascended beyond the Kármán line (100 km/62 miles), the internationally recognised edge of space. There, they experienced a few minutes of weightlessness and breathtaking views of Earth.
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With the August 29 suborbital spaceflight, Karsen Kitchen, 22, became the youngest woman to cross the Kármán line.
Rob Ferl also became the first NASA-funded researcher to experiment as part of a commercial suborbital space crew. The experiment was designed to help scientists understand how plant genes react to the transition to and from microgravity.
During the spaceflight, Ferl activated a device called a Kennedy Space Centre Fixation Tube, or KFT, to take a snapshot of the gene activity of an Arabidopsis thaliana plant inside a tube so researchers could later study it in the lab.
On the ground, co-investigator Anna-Lisa Paul tracked Ferl’s actions and activated identical control KFTs precisely four times during the flight.
NS-26 crew
Nicolina Elrick is a philanthropist and entrepreneur with a diverse career in fashion, property development, and IT. Based in Singapore, she is also a certified helicopter pilot and advocate for STEM education.
Rob Ferl is a professor and director at the Astraeus Space Institute. His work has previously contributed to space research on the International Space Station.
Eugene Grin is an entrepreneur and adventurer from Ukraine. Grin’s interests include meditation, travel, and sports. He currently resides in upstate New York.
Dr Eiman Jahangir is a cardiologist and professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre. Jahangir’s participation in the August 29 mission reflected his long-held dream of space exploration and his vision of making space more accessible.
At 22, Karsen Kitchen is the youngest woman to cross the Kármán line. A senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, she founded Orbitelle to promote women in the space industry.
Ephraim Rabin is a businessperson and philanthropist. He is the founder and CEO of Parchem Fine & Specialty Chemicals. His career includes contributions to supply chain technology, pursuits in race car driving, and culinary arts.
Featured image: (L-R): Ephraim Rabin, Nicolina Elrick, Dr Eiman Jahangir, Karsen Kitchen, Rob Ferl, and Eugene Grin. Credit: Blue Origin
