Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, has successfully launched its first crewed mission in nearly two years, marking its return to space tourism.
The New Shepard rocket and capsule took off at 9:36 am local time from Blue Origin’s West Texas facility, carrying six crew members to the edge of space.
Among the crew was Captain Gopichand Thotakura from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, making history as the first Indian tourist to fly to space with Blue Origin.
The flight, designated NS-25, included venture capitalist Mason Angel, French brewery founder Sylvain Chiron, software engineer Kenneth L. Hess, retired accountant Carol Schaller, and Ed Dwight, a former US Air Force captain and the first Black astronaut candidate.
The New Shepard capsule separated from its rocket and reached an altitude of 105.7 kilometers, providing the crew with a brief experience of weightlessness before returning to Earth.
Crew members unfastened their seat belts to float inside the capsule for a few minutes before the pod descended under parachutes, completing the mission safely.
This launch followed a nearly two-year hiatus due to an uncrewed mission failure in September 2022, when the rocket's capsule, carrying NASA experiments, safely ejected mid-flight after a malfunction.
Captain Thotakura's aviation career began at age eight. He graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and has extensive experience in various aviation fields, including commercial jets, seaplanes, and hot air balloons.
Thotakura co-founded Preserve Life Corp, enhancing emergency medical transportation in India with over 2,000 medical air ambulance missions, underscoring his contributions to medical aviation.