New Shephard’s 10th Flight: Blue Origin Successfully Launched Its NS-30 Mission [UPDATED]

Blue Origin successfully completed its 10th space tourism mission today, 25 February, launching six paying passengers on a brief trip to suborbital space. After a short delay, the New Shepard rocket lifted off from Blue Origin’s West Texas site at 10:50 a.m. EST (1550 GMT; 9:50 a.m. local time).

About seven minutes after launch, the booster safely landed in the desert, followed by the crew capsule, which touched down three minutes later. Unlike the company’s recent uncrewed research flight – where one parachute failed to deploy – all three parachutes opened as expected during today’s descent.

The six passengers dubbed themselves the “Perfect 10”, a nod to this milestone mission.

“Well, that makes perfect sense to me, considering the fact that this is, in fact, our 10th human flight,” launch commentator Eddie Seyffert remarked during the live broadcast.

The space tourists group is a mix of venture capitalist, television host, mountaineer and pilot, entrepreneur, physicist, and pilot, reproductive endocrinologist, partner and the co-head of research at a New York-based quantitative hedge fund and an undisclosed sixth crew member.

For Blue Origin, the February 25th mission became its 10th human flight for the New Shepard programme and the 30th in its history. To date, the programme has flown 47 humans above the Kármán line, the internationally recognised boundary of space.

Indian-Origin Space Tourist Joins Blue Origin’s Historic NS-30 Mission

One of the space travelers is a person with Indian/Asian roots called Tushar Shah.

An official of Blue Origin termed Shah as a low key and pretty private person when queried about additional details about him. Shah is a partner and the co-head of research at a quantitative hedge fund in New York City, said Blue Origin.

At Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Shah studied physics and high energy particle physics for his PhD. He and his wife, Sara, are philanthropists focused on addressing issues related to poverty, health, and education. They have two children, Blue Origin said.

To date, there are six Indian-origin astronauts – Rakesh Sharma, Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams, Raja Chari, Sirisha Bandla and Andy Sadhwani – who have flown to space.

NS-30 mission crew

The other four named crew members of New Shepherd are:

Lane Bess

Lane is the Principal and Founder of Bess Ventures and Advisory, a family office fund supporting technology firms that innovate and disrupt across multiple market sectors. He has led and built some of the world’s largest cybersecurity companies, including Palo Alto Networks and Zscaler, both of which he helped lead to IPO. Lane also serves as a Trustee at Carnegie Mellon University and supports philanthropic interests across health and social issues. Lane first flew to space on NS-19 on December 11, 2021.

Jesús Calleja

Jesús is a Spanish TV host, mountaineer, pilot, and lifelong adventurer. He currently hosts Calleja Planet, Flying By, and Calleja Universe, which air on Mediaset channels in Spain. Jesús’s adventures have taken him to every corner of the world, including the Seven Summits, the North and South Poles, and numerous deserts, active volcanoes, and ancient sinkholes. A passionate race car driver, Jesús has participated in numerous international racing competitions, including four editions of the Dakar Rally and a 3,400-mile journey from the French Pyrenees to Dakar, Senegal.

Elaine Chia Hyde

Elaine is an entrepreneur, physicist, and pilot. She is the founder of Chicago Star, a news and media company, and Eastside Enterprises, a research and development company focused on AI-assisted media products. Elaine was born in Singapore and grew up in Australia. Space has captivated her imagination since childhood. A graduate of the University of Melbourne, she studied business and physics with the goal of inventing experiments to be conducted in space. Elaine soon immigrated to the United States, where she worked as an intern at the University of Pennsylvania and later became a research scientist. Elaine, her husband, also a physicist, and their five children live in Florida.

Dr. Richard Scott

Dr. Scott is a reproductive endocrinologist, embryologist, professor, research scientist, philanthropist, entrepreneur, and avid pilot. He was a founding partner and CEO of IVIRMA Global, the world’s largest fertility care group with clinics and laboratories in 10 countries. Dr. Scott is an adjunct professor at Yale University and the University of South Carolina (Greenville) Medical Schools, and founded The Foundation for Embryonic Competence, a nonprofit focused on reproduction research, where he also serves as Scientific Director. He has served on the national boards of Directors of the Resolve and the American Fertility Associations, the two largest patient advocacy organizations for fertility care. He and his wife have been married for 45 years and have four children.

In their 11-minute space flight, the six travellers inside the space capsule will experience floating in the absence of gravity, watching the earth below.

The capsule will come back to earth and land softly with the help of giant parachutes.