Blue Origin’s New Shepard Completes NS-30, its 30th Mission to Space

(Van Horn, Texas) Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket completed NS-30, its 30th mission to space and tenth human spaceflight, after launching this morning at 9.49am CST (10.49am EST / 15.49 GMT) from the company’s Launch Site One in West Texas.

Photo of Blue Origin’s NS-30 crew courtesy of Blue Origin.

NS-30’s astronaut crew included: Lane Bess, Jesús Calleja, Elaine Chia Hyde, Dr. Richard Scott, Tushar Shah, and an undisclosed sixth crew member; Lane flew for the second time, becoming the the fourth New Shepard customer to do so, according to Blue Origin.

Including today’s crew, New Shepard has now flown 52 people into space, including repeat astronauts. 

“There’s nothing like seeing the diversity among our crews, and this mission brought together people from all over the world—scientists, doctors, entrepreneurs, and adventurers,” said Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President, New Shepard. “It’s always inspiring to hear their unique perspectives about the life-changing impact of seeing Earth from space. Huge thanks to our customers for supporting our mission to build a road to space for the benefit of Earth.”   

Key stats from today’s mission, according to @blueorigin’s X account, are as follows:

• “The crew capsule reached an apogee of 345,769 ft AGL / 349,416 ft MSL (105 km AGL / 107 km MSL)
• The booster reached an apogee of 345,404 ft AGL / 349,051 ft MSL (105 km AGL / 106 km MSL)
• Official launch time was 9:49:11 AM CST / 15:49:11 UTC
• Capsule landing occurred at 9:59:19 AM CST / 15:59:19 UTC
• The mission elapsed time was 10 min 8 sec"