Say what you will about commercial space exploration, but the rise of the likes of Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, and Blue Origin has surely opened up the sky for more people to touch it than we ever thought possible.
In the span of just a year or so, we’ve had a 90-year old man fly to orbit (Star Trek’s William Shatner, on a Blue Origin flight), an 82-year old woman, Wally Funk, do the same (also on a Blue Origin rocket), and a cancer survivor, Hayley Arceneaux, spend a few days out there (on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon).
The above has made one thing incredibly clear: you don’t have to necessarily be perfectly fit and healthy, or young, or specifically trained to be able to survive a trip to space and back.
All this incredible push to expand humanity’s horizons will soon see the first African American, and the first woman, land on the Moon as part of the NASA Artemis program. Until that happens though, a few more barriers need to be taken down.
One of these barriers will suffer such fate as soon as Blue Origin launches its fifth human flight in the near future (official date was not yet made public) - Jeff Bezos’ company just announced the crew that will make up the NS-21 mission, with six people on the manifest.
First up is Evan Dick, now at his second trip to space after the NS-19 mission, seconded by business jet pilot Hamish Harding. Civil production engineer Victor Correa Hespanha will also take a seat on the New Shepard, as will adventurer Jaison Robinson and explorer Victor Vescovo.
The star of this crew, if you will, is 26-year old former NASA test lead Katya Echazarreta, who, according to Blue Origin, will become “the first Mexican-born woman and youngest American woman to fly to space.”
She is making the trip as part of Space for Humanity’s sponsored Citizen Astronaut Program, says Blue Origin.
The above has made one thing incredibly clear: you don’t have to necessarily be perfectly fit and healthy, or young, or specifically trained to be able to survive a trip to space and back.
All this incredible push to expand humanity’s horizons will soon see the first African American, and the first woman, land on the Moon as part of the NASA Artemis program. Until that happens though, a few more barriers need to be taken down.
One of these barriers will suffer such fate as soon as Blue Origin launches its fifth human flight in the near future (official date was not yet made public) - Jeff Bezos’ company just announced the crew that will make up the NS-21 mission, with six people on the manifest.
First up is Evan Dick, now at his second trip to space after the NS-19 mission, seconded by business jet pilot Hamish Harding. Civil production engineer Victor Correa Hespanha will also take a seat on the New Shepard, as will adventurer Jaison Robinson and explorer Victor Vescovo.
The star of this crew, if you will, is 26-year old former NASA test lead Katya Echazarreta, who, according to Blue Origin, will become “the first Mexican-born woman and youngest American woman to fly to space.”
She is making the trip as part of Space for Humanity’s sponsored Citizen Astronaut Program, says Blue Origin.