LAUNCH TIME | August 4, 2022- 15:30:00 - 18:00:00 |
LAUNCH PROVIDER | Blue Origin |
CUSTOMER | Blue Origin |
ROCKET | New Shepard |
LAUNCH SITE | West Texas Suborbital Launch Site, Texas |
DESTINATION | Traiettoria Suborbitale |
LANDING SITE | Blue Origin Landing Pad |
WEATHER | - |
Blue Origin will launch the 6th mission with humans aboard their New Shepard suborbital rocket.
THE CREW
Coby Cotton
Coby Cotton, co-founder of the popular YouTube channel Dude Perfect with over 57 million subscribers, has been selected to fly on the NS-22. This selection was conducted through the MoonDAO cryptographic site. MoonDAO's mission is to decentralize access to space exploration. MoonDAO members voted to fly Cotton on this flight.
Mario Ferreira
Mário Ferreira is an adventurer, has amassed an extensive resume after completing the London Marathon in 2010, competing in the toughest car rally in the world, the Dakar, in 2007, and has been a diver since he was 20. In 2003, Ferreira received the title of "Commadador" from the President of Portugal.
Ferreira is an entrepreneur and president of Pluris Investment Group. The group includes more than 40 companies spanning TV and media, tourism, real estate, insurance and renewable energy.
This flight will make him the first Portuguese to fly into space.
Vanessa O'Brien
Vanessa O'Brien has had a history of extreme firsts and has no plans to stop. O'Brien was the first woman to reach the highest peak in the world, Everest.
O'Brien will become the first woman to reach Guinness World Records Exporers Extreme Trifecta, which includes reaching extremes on land, air and sea. These extremes include the summit of Everest, diving into the Challenger Deep, and a journey into space.
The first man, and the first person ever, to complete this extremely demanding feat was Victor Vescovo, who flew the NS-21 mission in June 2022.
Clint Kelly III
Clint Kelly III has been in the world of technology all his life. While working in the government, Kelly III was initiating the Autonomous Land Vehicle project at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 1984. This technology has been the primary basis for many of today's driverless cars.
He is also a wildlife photographer. Together with his wife he has photographed animals all over the world, including all 21 penguin species.
Sara Sabry
Sara Sabry will become the first Egyptian person to travel to space. In 2021, she became the first Egyptian analog astronaut by completing a simulated two-week moon mission.
Sabry is a mechanical and biomedical engineer and is the founder of the Deep Space Initiative. Her education comes from a degree in mechanical engineering from the American University of Cairo and a master's in biomedical engineering from the Milan Polytechnic.
Steve Young
Steve Young was previously the CEO of Young's Communications LLC (Y-COM). This telecommunications company was the largest contract in that field while under his leadership from 1992 to 2021.
THE NEW SHEPARD SPACECRAFT
The New Shepard Crew Capsule has the capacity to carry up to six people in a large 13 cubic cubic meter pressurized interior. The main objective of Blue Origin is to open to the general public the experience of microgravity and the vision of the curvature of the Earth. Each large window can pass 92% of visible light despite its structural ability to hold pressure making the experience much clearer.
The public had a chance to see unique views of the people inside the capsule during New Shepard NS-16's first human flight. This is due to the presence of 12 indoor cameras with such exceptional HDR capabilities that both the interior and exterior of the capsule can be adequately exposed.
For safety, the capsule has an integrated solid fuel interruption motor known as the Crew Capsule Escape Solid Rocket Motor manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne.
THE NEW SHEPARD ROCKET
Named in honor of the first American launched into a suborbital trajectory, Alan Shepard, this rocket is designed for suborbital flights. Four New Shepard rockets have been built so far: NS1, NS2, NS3 and NS4. NS1 made its maiden flight in 2015.
The New Shepard booster is powered by a single BE-3PM liquid fuel engine with the capacity to produce 489 kN of thrust. The BE-3 is powered by liquid hydrogen (LH 2) and liquid oxygen (LOx) and was developed and tested by Blue Origin in the 2000s.
NS-21 will be the seventh flight of the NS4 rocket. NS4 has some improved accessibility panels for easier cleaning and hardware checkout. NS4 has already made five flights, in which it successfully landed together with the capsule. These tests gave Blue Origin and the FAA the confidence to fly humans on this booster.