Alan Shepard’s Eldest Daughter to Board Next Blue Origin Flight

Laura Shepard Churchley is prepared to follow her dad’s footsteps and leave the Earth in the next Blue Origin flight. Sixty years after her father was on board the first American spaceflight, Laura is confirmed as a member of Blue Origin’s third human spaceflight.

Blue Origin Setting New Records

Besides the emotional experience for Laura that follows her father’s footsteps 60 years later, this next launch will bring Blue Origin and space tourism to new levels. It’s the first six-person crew launch for the American company, which marks a new breakthrough. 

Furthermore, on the same flight, Michael Strahan will become the first black person to board a suborbital spaceflight. The launch is scheduled for the 9^th of December, and it will start from West Texas. 

Space Tourism History in the Making

If everything goes according to plan, Churchley will be the second, 2nd generation astronaut from the US to reach outer space. Richard Garriott, son of Owen Garriott, previously funded his trip to the ISS back in 2008.

It’s even more good news for Michael Strahan as not only that he will be the first black person to board the Blue Origin flight, but he’ll also become the tallest person in history to reach outer space. Of course, since space tourism is only at its inception, we’re going to hear a lot about a record being broken flight after flight. However, this doesn’t make them any less important as we’re witnessing the launch of a whole new industry right in front of our eyes.  

UPDATE

Laura Shepard Churchley Speaks on Her First Space Flight

The suborbital rocket New Shepard recently took the American astronaut’s eldest daughter Laura Shepard Churchley on a 10-minute space flight. Alan Shepard was the first person to accomplish suborbital flight, and now his daughter follows in his footsteps. Five days after the landing, she expressed her feelings about the event in the interview with collectSPACE.

Astronaut Shepard Churchley Doubts Her New Title

Though flattered, Shepard Churchley doesn’t think of herself as a real astronaut. Being surrounded by space-related people since she was born, she was used to considering significant work to be done before the space launch. However, thanks to the recent Blue Origin’s development, she and several others were able to join the flight without special training. Now she says it’s fun to hear people calling her Astronaut Churchly, but she is slightly torn with the difference between the reality and the definition she’s had in her mind for her whole life. Nevertheless, the experience was breathtaking. Shepard Churchley says it’s inspiring that anyone could technically fly into space now, thanks to Blue Origin.

Blue Origin Takes More People to Space

Recent launches by Blue Origin gave a chance to non-professional astronauts to gain the unmatched experience of space travelling. The list includes William Shatner and Jeff Bezos himself, who were able to lift off without the exhausting months of training astronauts in Alan Shepard’s times needed to go through. All Blue Origin’s space tourists received the commercial astronaut wings, though not all of them think they truly need to be honoured like that.