Blue Origin successfully launched its 10th private astronaut mission on February 25, sending six passengers on a suborbital journey aboard the New Shepard spacecraft. The NS-30 mission lifted off from Launch Site One in West Texas at 10:49 a.m. Eastern, following a brief 19-minute hold in the countdown due to an unspecified technical issue.
The New Shepard booster touching down after sucessful NS-29 mission. Credit: Blue Origin
The flight reached a peak altitude of 107 kilometers before the crew capsule safely landed 10 minutes and 8 seconds after liftoff. The rocket booster made a powered landing approximately two and a half minutes earlier.
Unlike previous missions, Blue Origin did not fully disclose the identity of one of the six passengers. The company identified five crew members before launch:
Lane Bess, an investor who previously flew on the NS-19 New Shepard flight in December 2021.
Jesús Calleja, a Spanish television host and adventurer.
Elaine Chia Hyde, a media company owner developing AI-assisted media products.
Richard Scott, a physician and medical company executive.
Tushar Shah, a hedge fund executive.
The sixth passenger was not named by Blue Origin, with the company’s webcast hosts only stating that he had requested anonymity. However, pre-launch photos and live footage from the mission showed a man in a flight suit with an "R. Wilson" nametag. Additionally, the NS-30 mission patch included the name “Wilson” alongside the other crew members.
This level of anonymity is unusual for space travelers. While China’s Shenzhou astronauts are sometimes kept anonymous until shortly before launch, and Virgin Galactic has withheld names until after flights, all individuals who have traveled to space have eventually been identified.
NS-30 marked the second New Shepard launch of 2025, following the NS-29 payload-only mission three weeks earlier. That flight included a first-of-its-kind experiment, spinning the capsule to simulate lunar gravity.
While Blue Origin has not disclosed the total number of New Shepard launches planned for the year, company CEO Dave Limp emphasized the vehicle’s continued importance. Speaking at the Commercial Space Conference on February 12, Limp described New Shepard as a critical testbed for the company’s broader ambitions, including technology demonstrations for the Blue Moon lunar lander and the upcoming New Glenn orbital rocket.
Beyond research and development, New Shepard remains a key player in the space tourism market. Limp noted that demand for suborbital flights remains strong. “The tickets aren’t inexpensive,” he said, “and there’s no buyer’s remorse.”
“I do believe New Shepard will be a very good business for us,” he added.
With its latest mission complete, Blue Origin continues to cement its role in the growing space tourism industry, even as it expands into lunar exploration and orbital launches.
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