People can watch the Kent-based Blue Origin first flight into space with astronauts on board at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, July 20 on the company’s website.
The launch will be broadcast live on BlueOrigin.com beginning at 4:30 a.m. Liftoff is currently targeted for 6 a.m., according to Blue Origin.
This will be Blue Origin’s 16th New Shepard flight to space. Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark Bezos will be on board along with the person who had a winning bid of $28 million to get a seat.
Following the launch, a live press conference with the astronauts will be broadcast on BlueOrigin.com.
Blue Origin’s Launch Site One is in a remote location in the West Texas desert and there are no onsite public viewing areas in the vicinity of the launch site. The Texas Department of Transportation will be closing a portion of State Highway 54 adjacent to the launch site and will not allow spectators on the closed portion of the road during the launch.
Fulfilling a lifelong mission to become an astronaut, Wally Funk, 82, will be on the flight as well. Funk’s journey to space began in the 1960s when she was the youngest graduate of the Woman in Space Program, a privately funded project which tested female pilots for astronaut fitness. Later known as the “Mercury 13” – 13 American women successfully underwent the same physiological and psychological screening tests as the astronauts selected by NASA for Project Mercury, but they never flew to space. Funk was the youngest graduate of this program.
The pilot will now be part of the first crew on New Shepard, and the oldest person ever to fly to space.
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