Elain Brown Science 06.01.2022 03:Jun AM EDT

Blue Origin's Next Space Tourist Mission Has a New Target Date — When is It?

After a few weeks of delay, Blue Origin's space tourist mission using NS-21 will finally launch again on Saturday, June 4.

Blue Origin announced that their NS-21 tourist space flight on June 4 will launch from the company's quarters in West Texas at 9 a.m. NS-21 was supposed to launch off to space on May 24, however. However, due to some vehicular problems encountered, it was eventually pushed back to allow time for repair.

Blue Origin's Space Tourist Mission

Blue Origin's fifth human spaceflight was previously scheduled for Friday (May 20). However, according to the company's tweet, they have encountered problems in one of New Shepard's backup systems.

Blue Origin stated that it is not operating at the standard it expects to be. The company added, "In an abundance of caution, we will be delaying the #NS21 launch originally scheduled for Friday."

During our final vehicle check-outs, we observed one of New Shepard’s back-up systems was not meeting our expectations for performance. In an abundance of caution, we will be delaying the #NS21 launch originally scheduled for Friday. Stay tuned for further updates.
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) May 18, 2022

As reported by Space.com, Blue Origin's West Texas launch site will serve as the departure point for the NS-21 spacecraft, which will carry six passengers on a suborbital flight.

Blue Origin's NS-21 will carry six passengers this time. The first one is Evan Dick. This space flight will be Dick's second voyage aboard New Shepard after NS-19 on Dec. 11, 2021. He's a pilot, engineer, investor, and Dick Holdings, LLC manager.

The second passenger will be the first Mexican-born woman to reach space, Katya Echazarreta, according to Blue Origin. She co-hosts YouTube's Netflix IRL and CBS's Mission Unstoppable. She also spent four years at NASA's JPL working on the Perseverance Mars rover. In addition, her seat was sponsored by Space for Humanity.

The third passenger is Hamish Harding. He is an executive of a jet brokerage company, Action Aviation. Harding is a flight enthusiast and currently holds the record for flying across the north and south poles in 2019.

The fourth one aboard Blue Origin is the second Brazilian to fly in space, Victor Correa Hespanha. Hespanha is a civil production engineer whose seat is sponsored by the Crypto Space Agency.

The next one would be the founder of real estate company JJM Investment, and co-founder of Dream Variations Ventures, Jaison Robinson.

The sixth passenger on NS-21 will be Victor Vescovo, a retired Navy Reserve intelligence officer and a commercial jet, helicopter, and submersible test pilot. Vescovo also co-founded Insight Equity.

However, Blue Origin did not reveal how much these passengers paid to secure a seat to go to space. Although its competitor company, Virgin Galactic, stated that their space tourist mission price is around $450,000 per seat. It is safe to assume that Blue Origin's flights are around that price, or they can be even more expensive.

Blue Origin's NS-21

Blue Origin's website will broadcast New Shepard's fifth crewed flight on June 4 at 8 a.m. EDT. However, launching will be highly dependent on the weather and technical concerns as it could delay liftoff until 9 a.m. EDT.

Not long after liftoff, the rocket will perform powered vertical landings, and shortly after that, the capsule will return to Earth and make gentle landings with the assistance of a parachute. Both the rocket and the capsule that make up the New Shepard are designed to be reusable.

After liftoff, the duration of each New Shepard mission is around 11 minutes until the capsule has landed. During their time in space, passengers get to float weightlessly for a few minutes and get a chance to observe the Earth.

Each New Shepard flight brings its customers and guests above the 62-mile Kármán line, considered to be the boundary of space by the International Aeronautical Federation. New Shepard's fifth crewed mission will carry six passengers but no pilot, as the space capsule is an automated system.

The NS-21 might have six passengers aboard, but there will be no pilot assigned since the space capsule is an automated system.

This mission is called NS-21 because it is the company's 21st flight to New Shepard. At the same time, this flight is also the fifth crewed flight of Blue Origin; the previous flights were July 2021, October 2021, December 2021, and March 31.