Billionaire entrepreneur Jeff Bezos‘ space venture Blue Origin is set to relaunch its space tourism flights after a hiatus of nearly two years, following a mission failure in 2022.
What Happened: Blue Origin, backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is preparing to resume its space tourism flights with the NS-25 mission on Sunday, according to Blue Origin’s official website. The mission is scheduled to take off from Launch Site One in West Texas, with a launch window starting at 8:30 AM CDT / 1330 UTC.
The New Shepard rocket, which conducts short trips to the edge of space with cargo and human passengers, has been grounded since a mission failure in September 2022. The upcoming NS-25 mission will carry six crew members, including the first Black astronaut candidate in the United States, former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration concluded its review of Blue Origin’s New Shepard investigation last year, concurring with the company’s findings.
Why It Matters: This announcement comes after Blue Origin announced new astronauts for its 7th crewed flight in April. The company, founded by Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, has taken 31 astronauts into space, including Bezos himself, his brother Mark Bezos, former NFL player Michael Strahan, content creator Coby Cotton of “Dude Perfect,” and actor William Shatner.
Bezos’ space venture has been making strides in the industry, with its senior vice president of lunar permanence, John Couluris, expecting the company’s lunar cargo lander to reach the Moon within 16 months. Blue Origin is also working on a human lander with NASA for the Artemis 5 mission, planned for 2029.
Bezos’ space ambitions have not been without criticism, with former President Barack Obama expressing skepticism about the potential of space colonization to save Earth, slamming Bezos and Elon Musk for investing in off-world relocation projects.
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