Blue Origin once again took tourists to the edge of space – not without a record

On August 29, 2024, Blue Origin sent six space tourists beyond the Karman line – to the conditional border with space. The NS-26 mission was the eighth expedition with tourists in the company’s business. The New Shepard rocket launched from the Blue Origin site at 8:00 local time (16:00 Moscow time). During the flight, an altitude of 104 km was reached. One of the tourists on board was Karsen Kitchen, who became the youngest woman to fly so high into space.

Image Source: Blue Origin

Carsen Kitchen is 21 years old. It is known that she is undergoing an internship at Blue Origin and is also studying in college. In March 2022, Carsen’s father, Jim Kitchen, used the company’s services to fly beyond the Karman line (flight NS-20). It is not specified under what conditions his daughter flew. Blue Origin also does not disclose ticket prices for its suborbital attraction. Note that at Virgin Galactic the cost of a ticket for similar services is $600 thousand per seat.

It seems that there is an unspoken competition between Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic to see who will send the most “firsts” to the boundaries of space. Strictly speaking, Carsen Kitchen did not become the youngest woman to fly into space. In August 2023, she became 18-year-old Anastasia Mayers, whom the Virgin Galactic ship, along with two other crew members, lifted to an altitude of 88.5 km. Technically, Myers did not overcome the landmark 100 km altitude, but NASA and the US Air Force, for example, consider the 80 km mark to be the limit of space.

NS-26 mission composition

The youngest person to go on a suborbital tourist flight was 18-year-old Dutch student Oliver Daemen. It was delivered to the Karman line in June 2021 by a Blue Origin capsule. Bezos’ company also provided a service to the oldest traveler. In July 2021, a New Shepard rocket lifted 82-year-old aviation pioneer Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk into space. This is a perfect illustration of the thesis that space can be accessible to anyone.

admin

Share
Published by
admin

Recent Posts

Apple to Change OS Numbering: iOS 26 to Come This Year Instead of iOS 19

Apple is preparing a large-scale rebranding of its line of operating systems. This was reported…

16 hours ago

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has matched Skyrim in sales, and every third Cyberpunk 2077 owner has bought the Phantom Liberty add-on

The cult open-world action role-playing game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which recently celebrated its…

16 hours ago

Analysts predict absurd surge in PC sales due to Trump’s indiscriminate tariffs

IDC analysts unexpectedly concluded that the current unstable tariff policy of the US administration will…

16 hours ago

Adata XPG Mars 980 Blade PCIe 5.0 SSD Review: Affordable SM2508 Flagship

The first consumer SSDs with PCIe 5.0 interface appeared on the market about two years…

16 hours ago

Electronic Arts to Focus on Key Franchises — Black Panther Action Game Cancelled, Cliffhanger Games Studio Closed

The IGN portal, citing internal correspondence from Electronic Arts, reported that the American publisher has…

16 hours ago

Study: Apple C1 mobile modem falls short of Qualcomm modems in terms of connection quality in difficult conditions

A study by Cellular Insights Inc. found that Qualcomm's mobile modems perform better than Apple's…

2 days ago