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Blue Origin launches 6 passengers to the edge of space and back
The company has now launched four crewed New Shepard commercial space missions.
www.cbsnews.com
Jeff Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin launched its fourth crewed New Shepard flight Thursday, a 10-minute thrill ride to the edge of space carrying the spacecraft's chief designer and five entrepreneur/adventurers, including a husband and wife who shared an emotional kiss on the high frontier.
Running two days late because of high winds at the company's West Texas launch site, the stubby New Shepard rocket's hydrogen-fueled main engine roared to life at 9:58 a.m. EDT, throttled up to full thrust and boosted the spacecraft away atop a jet of flaming exhaust.
Gary Lai, one of Blue Origin's first employees and the architect of the New Shepard program, was added to the crew in place of comedian Pete Davidson after a launch delay and schedule conflict forced the "Saturday Night Live" star to withdraw.
Joining Lai for the sub-orbital flight were philanthropists and space enthusiasts Marc and Sharon Hagle; University of North Carolina professor and world traveler Jim Kitchen; George Nield, president of Commercial Space Technologies and a former manager with NASA and the FAA; and "angel investor" Marty Allen.
An in-cabin video released after the flight showed the crew cavorting in weightlessness, marveling at the view while the Hagles took a moment to share a heartfelt hug and kiss.
"Oh, my gosh, it was amazing," she said of the flight. "I can't wait to get home and share it with all the kids."
"When the engine ignited, my energy level just exploded," her husband said. "And then when you get to outer space and you start seeing the blue marble, as everybody describes it, in the black of space, there's no way of describing it. Our grandkids have asked us about it ... and it's just hard to describe." ,
"And it was great having a partner with you!" Sharon Hagle said.
