Blue Origin Set to Make History with Inclusive Suborbital Flight

Blue Origin is gearing up for a historic launch: for the first time, a person in a wheelchair will go on a suborbital flight as part of the NS-37 mission. The New Shepard rocket is scheduled to launch on December 20 from a spaceport near Van Horn, Texas. There will be a total of six people on board. One of the mission participants is European Space Agency engineer Mikaela Benthaus. In 2018, she was involved in an accident and suffered a serious spinal cord injury, after which she began using a wheelchair. Joining her on the flight will be investors Joey Hyde and Adonis Purulis, aerospace engineer Hans Koenigsmann, entrepreneur Neil Milch, and IT specialist Jason Stansell.

During the flight, the crew capsule will cross the Kármán line – the conventional boundary of space at an altitude of 100 km – and then return to Earth with the help of a parachute system. Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, is advancing in the field of suborbital tourism and competes with Virgin Galactic. Throughout the New Shepard program, around 80 people have participated in flights, and the company still does not disclose ticket prices.