Blue Origin executed its 17th crewed mission, NS-38, on Thursday morning by launching six people to space from its West Texas launch site.
The New Shepard rocket launched its passengers at 10:25 am CST to reach the international boundary of space before parachuting back to Earth after eleven minutes of flight.
The mission demonstrates the growing frequency of commercial spaceflights, which occurred one month after the company’s December 2025 launch.
Crew Diversity
The NS-38 manifest featured a diverse group of professionals, including Ace Asphalt CEO Tim Drexler, retired OB/GYN Dr. Linda Edwards, and real estate developer Alain Fernandez.
The group included Alberto Gutiérrez who founded the travel company Civitatis, and retired Air Force Colonel Jim Hendron. Laura Stiles, who serves as Blue Origin’s Director of New Shepard Launch Operations, became the last-minute replacement for a passenger who became sick.
Stiles, who holds two world records in skydiving, became the first operations director from the company who moved from mission control to the crew capsule.
Atmospheric Boundaries
The flight aimed to reach the Kármán line, which the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale designates as the beginning of space at its 100-kilometer (62-mile) boundary.
Blue Origin asserts that astronauts achieve their title through crossing the 100-km boundary, which NASA and the FAA use as their astronaut definition. Scientific debate remains active because experts propose that atmospheric presence extends to hundreds of miles above Earth, which influences the International Space Station operations.
The NS-38 crew experienced several moments of weightlessness, which allowed them to observe Earth’s curvature against the dark space of the universe.
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