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Blue Origin set six new space records on Saturday after it successfully launched its first six-person crew into space.
The first parent-child pair to lift off together, the tallest person to fly into space, and six newly-qualified astronauts made history on board Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket. Laura Shepard Churchley, the oldest daughter of Alan Shepard, the first American to fly into space, and former football star-turned-TV anchor Michael Strahan were part of the crew.
The experience was amazing. He told Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos that he wanted to go back. He wrote on the social networking site that touchdown has a new meaning.
It was hard to describe, but it was unbelievable, said Michael Strahan in a video after the flight. It couldn't have gone better, it's going to take a little bit to process it.
Lifting off at 10 a.m. The crew of the New Shepard rocket were launched from Blue Origin's Launch site one in Van Horn, Texas, and flew just above the internationally-recognized boundary between Earth and space for 10 minutes. The passengers and their paying passengers experienced about three minutes of weightlessness while they looked down at our planet from 65 miles high.
The first of 5 images is image 1 of 5.
Patrick T. Fallon is credited with the image.
The New Shepard booster is about to land. The image is from Blue Origin.
The New Shepard crew capsule is seen under its main parachutes as it returns the space tourists to Earth after a successful launch from Blue Origin's Launch Site One near Van Horn, Texas on December 11, 2021. The image is from Blue Origin.
Blue Origin's New Shepard space capsule made a touchdown on the space tourism mission. The image is from Blue Origin.
A member of Blue Origin's crew gives a thumb's up after landing. The image is from Blue Origin.
The crew capsule descended back to the ground using three large parachutes and a last second burst of air from downward facing thrusters to slow and cushion the touchdown. Jeff Bezos, the former chief executive of Amazon and founder of Blue Origin, welcomed the six back to Earth and presented them with their Blue Origin astronauts wings.
The tallest person to fly into space was 6 feet 5 inches tall. The previous Guinness World Record height was held by NASA astronauts James "Ox" van Hoften and James Wetherbee, but now it has been surpassed by a Super Bowl champion.
Blue Origin's New Shepard 19 crew are Dylan Taylor, Lane Bess, Cameron Bess, Laura Shepard Churchley, Michael Strahan and Evan Dick. The image is from Blue Origin.
Blue Origin paid a stipend to Strahan to fly as a crew member on the mission, which he donated to The Boys & Girls Club. The first TV news personality to fly into space was Toyohiro Akiyama, who was a correspondent for the Tokyo Broadcasting System.
The first black person to fly on a suborbital spaceflight is now the leader of the group. Sixteen Black astronauts and cosmonauts have flown higher and faster.
Laura Shepard Churchley, the first daughter of a U.S. Astronaut to fly into space, is one of the record-setting astronauts. The image is from Blue Origin.
Alan Shepard, Churchley's father, was the first person to launch on a suborbital spaceflight. The New Shepard vehicle is named after Alan Shepard. Churchley is the first daughter of a space traveler to leave the planet. Churchley was a guest of Blue Origin.
Churchley said in the video that he felt like he was following in his father's footsteps.
After the launch, Churchley exclaimed "Let's light this candle!" in a nod to her father, who said the same words before launching on his Freedom 7 Mercury mission.
The first parent-child pair to fly into space together was launched on New Shepard 19 by Blue Origin. The image is from Blue Origin.
Lane Bess and his child flew into space together. The first out pansexual person to launch off Earth is a creator of content on both platforms.
One of the first people in space was Cameron Bess.
Taylor, the chairman and CEO of the space exploration firm, and Dick, an engineer and investor who volunteers as a pilot for Starfighters, rounded out the New Shepard 19 crew.
The US definition of where space begins is 50 miles, so he was the 604th person to fly above that. The 605th to 609th people to fly are Churchley, Taylor, Lane Bess, Cameron Bess and Dick.
The RSS First Step capsule and its booster have been on five flights. Since 2015, the New Shepard has had 19 successful flights with humans on board.
The company dedicated Saturday's launch to Glen DeVries, who died in a plane crash in November, less than a month after launching to space with William Shatner and two others.
Blue Origin said that his passion and dedication would not be forgotten. "Ad astra Glen."
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