Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin targeting Feb. 25 for 10th space tourism launch

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We know five of the six crewmembers flying on the NS-30 mission.

a white rocket launches into a blue desert sky
Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle launches on the NS-25 crewed suborbital mission, on May 19, 2024. (Image credit: Blue Origin)

Blue Origin is targeting next Tuesday (Feb. 25) for its 10th space tourism mission, which will send six people to the final frontier.

If all goes according to plan, Blue Origin's suborbital New Shepard vehicle will lift off from the company's West Texas site on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. EST (1630 GMT; 9:30 a.m. local Texas time).

You'll be able to watch the action live, beginning 35 minutes before launch.

headshots of four men and one women, arranged in a grid-like pattern

Five of the six crewmembers who will fly on Blue Origin's NS-30 suborbital mission. The sixth passenger has not yet been revealed. (Image credit: Blue Origin)

The upcoming mission is called NS-30, because it will be the 30th overall launch of New Shepard, a reusable rocket-capsule combo. Most of the vehicle's missions — which last 10 to 12 minutes from launch to capsule touchdown — have been uncrewed research flights.

Blue Origin, which was founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos in September 2000, has announced the identities of five of the six people going up on NS-30. They are venture capitalist Lane Bess (who's flying on New Shepard for the second time), Spanish TV host Jesús Calleja, entrepreneur and physicist Elaine Chia Hyde, reproductive endocrinologist Richard Scott and hedge fund partner Tushar Shah. You can learn more about them in our crew reveal story.

We still don't know who the sixth crewmember is.

Related: Blue Origin crew, including history's 100th woman to fly to space, lands safely (video)

a space mission patch featuring a yellowish space capsule against a blue and black background, with text that says NS-30 in large type

The mission patch for Blue Origin's NS-30 suborbital space tourism mission. (Image credit: Blue Origin)
RELATED STORIES:

— Facts about New Shepard, Blue Origin's rocket for space tourism

— In photos: William Shatner launches to space on Blue Origin's New Shepard

— Blue Origin launches Michael Strahan and crew of 5 on record-setting suborbital spaceflight

Blue Origin announced NS-30's target launch date today (Feb. 25), in an update that also revealed the mission's patch. That update explained the significance of some of the patch's symbols. In Blue Origin's words:

  • The mountain represents Spanish mountaineer and adventurer Jesús Calleja, who has climbed the world’s Seven Summits.  
  • The airplane and clouds represent Jesús Calleja, Elaine Hyde, Dr. Richard Scott, and Tushar Shah, all of whom are pilots.  
  • The dove with the olive branch represents Jesús Calleja and Lane Bess’ hope for peace for all. 
  • The Southern Cross represents Elaine Hyde’s Australian and Singaporean heritage.  
  • The Roman numeral II along the bottom edge represents Lane’s second flight.  
  • The winding road on the mountain leading to the crew capsule represents the road to space each of the crew’s astronauts have taken. 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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