Blue Origin launches 34th New Shepard rocket into space

Jeff Bezos’s Kent-based rocket technology company Blue Origin launched a crypto billionaire and five others into space Sunday morning.

The mission was called “NS-34,” since it was the 34^th flight of the company’s New Shepard spacecraft.

It blasted off from the company’s west Texas spaceport at 5:43 a.m., Pacific Daylight Time.

The crew member considered the highest-profile person aboard the flight was Justin Sun, a 34-year-old billionaire who created a blockchain platform called “Tron.”

Back in June of 2021, Sun offered the highest amount of any bidder, in an auction for a seat aboard the first-ever crewed flight of New Shepard.

He anonymously paid $28 million.

According to Space.com, information about the bid was not made public until six months after the auction.

However, because of his busy schedule, Sun was unable to join that historic flight, which launched in July of 2021.

The date of that landmark flight was July 20^th, which coincided with the 52^nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Passengers on that first flight included Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk and Dutch student Oliver Daemen.

On Sunday’s flight, passengers accompanying Sun included Arvinder (Arvi) Singh Bahal, an Indian-born American real estate investor and adventurer; Turkish businessman and photographer Gökhan Erdem; Deborah Martorell, a journalist and meteorologist from Puerto Rico; Englishman Lionel Pitchford, who has run an orphanage in Nepal for three decades; and American entrepreneur James (J.D.) Russell.

The six-member crew of the 34th flight of New Shepard. (Photo courtesy: Blue Origin)

Blue Origin’s Senior Vice President, Phil Joyce, released the following post-flight statement at the conclusion of New Shepard’s 34^th mission Sunday:

It was an honor to see so many nations represented on our flight today.  The view of our fragile planet from space has a unifying effect on all who witness it, and I am always eager to see how our astronauts use this experience for the benefit of Earth.”

It was the first space flight for everyone aboard New Shepard, except the American entrepreneur J.D. Russell.

He previously flew into sub-orbital flight on Blue Origin’s “NS-28” mission, in November of last year.

NS-34 was the 14th human spaceflight for New Shepard.

The launch vehicle consists of a crew capsule on top of a rocket.

Both of those components can be recycled and used over again.

The rocket returns to Earth in a vertical position, powered by rockets in a similar fashion to the Elon Musk-owned SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets.

The crew capsule slowly falls back to earth, assisted by parachutes, for a soft landing.

During each New Shepard flight, which are typically 10 to 12 minutes long, passengers experience a few minutes of weightlessness.

This happens when the spacecraft approaches a point 62 miles above the Earth’s surface, which is widely regarded as the place where space begins.

The amount of money paid by each passenger has not been made public by Blue Origin.

But it’s likely much less than the $28 million Sun paid, when he bid in that initial auction.

According to Blue Origin, that sum was considered to be a philanthropic contribution.

The company wrote in its NS-34 Mission Description:

The proceeds from the $28 million bid benefited 19 space-focused charities to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEAM [science, technology, engineering, art and math] and help shape the future of life in space.”