New Shepard flys Emily Calandrelli and two repeat space tourists

On Friday, November 22nd, 2024, Blue Origin launched its ninth human spaceflight mission, carrying six passengers, at 15:30 pm Universal Coordinated Time.

The mission took place from the company's west Texas launch site and reached an altitude of 107 kilometers, passing above the Kármán line briefly. Safe touchdown of the capsule occurred at T+10:14, while the booster safely landed using its engines three minutes prior. Following the crew's egress from the capsule, the company stated the following:

"Today, Blue Origin successfully completed its ninth human spaceflight and the 28th flight for the New Shepard program. The astronaut crew included: Emily Calandrelli, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Austin Litteral, James (J.D.) Russell, and Henry (Hank) Wolfond. Sharon and Marc Hagle both flew for the second time. Including today’s crew, New Shepard has now flown 47 people to space."

Emily Calandrelli was a major focus of Blue Origin's commentary during its webcast as she was the one-hundredth woman to fly into space, recognized as 50 miles, or 80.5 kilometers, in altitude by the U.S. government.

Also onboard were two repeat passengers for New Shepard, Sharon Hagle and Marc Hagle. Both of them previously flew for the NS-20 mission back in March of 2022.

The booster supporting this mission, New Shepard-4, was flying for the twelfth time while the capsule, R.S.S. First Step, was flying for the eleventh time.

According to Blue Origin, NS-28's mission patch has a few embedded symbols including; the color pink and the girl in the signature pink overalls represents Emily Calandrelli, the centerline in the “2” represents Sharon and Marc Hagle’s second flight on New Shepard, the stars represent Austin Litteral’s vision for people among the stars, the people at the bottom represents J.D. Russell’s hope for generations of people expanding their understanding of the world, and the wolf in the crew capsule’s window represents Hank Wolfond. 

Who was flying to space?

Emily Calandrelli 

Emily is an MIT engineer, Emmy-nominated TV host, and #1 NYTimes best-selling author known as @TheSpaceGal online. Host of Netflix’s Emily’s Wonder Lab, Emily's Science Lab on YouTube, and author of nine books, Emily works to inspire young people to see themselves in STEAM. 

Sharon Hagle 

Sharon is the founder of SpaceKids Global, a nonprofit she created in 2015 whose mission is to inspire elementary students to excel in STEAM education, ensuring girls are equally represented. Sharon and her husband, Marc, first flew to space on NS-20 on March 31, 2022, becoming the first married couple to launch on a commercial space vehicle. 

Marc Hagle 

Marc is president and CEO of Tricor International, a residential and commercial property development corporation. Marc and his wife, Sharon, are avid philanthropists for numerous arts, sciences, health, and education-related charities. Marc first flew to space on NS-20 on March 31, 2022. 

Austin Litteral 

Austin works as a risk management professional in the financial services industry. He’s a husband and a father of two daughters. Austin spends his free time hiking in state parks with his family and cheering for the local sports teams. This trip will fulfill a childhood dream of becoming an astronaut, having grown up with photos of NASA shuttle launches in his bedroom. Austin’s seat is sponsored by Whatnot, and won his seat as part of the Whatnot to the Moon giveaway. 

James (J.D.) Russell 

J.D. is a serial entrepreneur and founder of InfoHOA, a leader in technology-based community management solutions. He founded the Victoria Russell Foundation to honor the memory of his deceased daughter. The foundation is dedicated to supporting children’s education and assistance to families of first responders, and is a proud partner with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to bring the love of reading to children by gifting books free of charge to children. 

Henry (Hank) Wolfond 

Henry is Chairman and CEO of Bayshore Capital in Toronto, Canada. A lifelong aviator, Henry holds an Airline Transport Pilots license for fixed wing aircraft and a Commercial Pilots License for Helicopters. He moonlights as a professional pilot on charter, medevac, and organ retrieval flights.

Passenger descriptions largely from Blue Orign's pre-flight press release.

What is New Shepard?

New Shepard is a single-stage reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle flown and manufactured by American aerospace company Blue Origin. New Shepard commonly flies tourists and microgravity science missions.

The capsule of New Shepard can carry either six passengers or an undisclosed mass of science experiments. The capsule also has an abort motor in the event of failure during the boosters phase of flight.

The booster of New Shepard is powered by one BE-3 engine generating a believed 50 tons of thrust burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for up to two-minutes and twenty-one seconds. The BE-3 engine is capable of restarting in-flight enabling the booster to be recovered and reused. New Shepard's booster also has numerous aerodynamic surfaces to allow the booster to guide itself during unpowered flight.