posted 02-18-2025 06:30 PM               

Blue Origin Announces Crew for New Shepard's 30th Mission

Blue Origin today (Feb. 18) revealed five of the six people flying on its NS-30 mission. The crew includes: Lane Bess, Jesús Calleja, Elaine Chia Hyde, Dr. Richard Scott, Tushar Shah, and an undisclosed sixth crew member. Lane is flying on New Shepard for the second time, the fourth astronaut to do so.

This mission is the 10th human flight for the New Shepard program and the 30th in its history. To date, the program has flown 47 humans above the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.

Meet the Crew

• Lane Bess

  Lane is the Principal and Founder of Bess Ventures and Advisory, a family office fund supporting technology firms that innovate and disrupt across multiple market sectors. He has led and built some of the world's largest cybersecurity companies, including Palo Alto Networks and Zscaler, both of which he helped lead to IPO. Lane also serves as a Trustee at Carnegie Mellon University and supports philanthropic interests across health and social issues. Lane first flew to space on NS-19 on December 11, 2021.

• Jesús Calleja

  Jesús is a Spanish TV host, mountaineer, pilot, and lifelong adventurer. He currently hosts Calleja Planet, Flying By, and Calleja Universe, which air on Mediaset channels in Spain. Jesús's adventures have taken him to every corner of the world, including the Seven Summits, the North and South Poles, and numerous deserts, active volcanoes, and ancient sinkholes. A passionate race car driver, Jesús has participated in numerous international racing competitions, including four editions of the Dakar Rally and a 3,400-mile journey from the French Pyrenees to Dakar, Senegal.

• Elaine Chia Hyde

  Elaine is an entrepreneur, physicist, and pilot. She is the founder of Chicago Star, a news and media company, and Eastside Enterprises, a research and development company focused on AI-assisted media products. Elaine was born in Singapore and grew up in Australia. Space has captivated her imagination since childhood. A graduate of the University of Melbourne, she studied business and physics with the goal of inventing experiments to be conducted in space. Elaine soon immigrated to the United States, where she worked as an intern at the University of Pennsylvania and later became a research scientist. Elaine, her husband, also a physicist, and their five children live in Florida.

• Dr. Richard Scott

  Dr. Scott is a reproductive endocrinologist, embryologist, professor, research scientist, philanthropist, entrepreneur, and avid pilot. He was a founding partner and CEO of IVIRMA Global, the world's largest fertility care group with clinics and laboratories in 10 countries. Dr. Scott is an adjunct professor at Yale University and the University of South Carolina (Greenville) Medical Schools, and founded The Foundation for Embryonic Competence, a nonprofit focused on reproduction research, where he also serves as Scientific Director. He has served on the national boards of Directors of the Resolve and the American Fertility Associations, the two largest patient advocacy organizations for fertility care. He and his wife have been married for 45 years and have four children.

• Tushar Shah

  Tushar is a partner and the co-head of research at a quantitative hedge fund in New York City. He studied physics as an undergraduate at MIT and high energy experimental particle physics for his PhD, also at MIT. He and his wife, Sara, are philanthropists focused on addressing issues related to poverty, health, and education. They have two children.

The flight date will be announced soon.

posted 02-25-2025 11:15 AM               

Blue Origin's New Shepard Completes 30th Mission to Space

Blue Origin successfully completed its tenth human spaceflight and the 30th flight for the New Shepard program. The 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, the fourth New Shepard customer to do so. 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 New Shepard crewed NS-30 mission:

• 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

posted 02-25-2025 05:07 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
...including "R. Wilson" (at right), who has yet to be identified.

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