Launch Success
Liftoff Time (GMT)
13:11:00
Tuesday July 20, 2021
Watch Replay
Official Livestream
Read Article
First time New Shepard launched astronauts to space.
NS-16 was Blue Origin’s first time carrying astronauts to space. A crew of four flew on this mission. One of the crew members bought a seat through an auction for $28 million. However, they were not able to attend due to a scheduling conflict, so their seat was filled by 18-year-old Oliver Daemen. Daemen is Blue Origin's first paying customer and will become the youngest person to fly to space. Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark will fill two more seats. The fourth and final crew member is Wally Funk, one of the Mercury 13. Funk became the oldest person to fly to space, up to the time of this flight. After the ascent, the crew had roughly three minutes of weightlessness before the capsule began to reenter the atmosphere. Once in the atmosphere, the capsule deployed its parachutes and landed softly in the Texas desert.
Suborbital
16th
Mission
3rd
Mission of 2021
16th
Mission
3rd
Mission of 2021