JAKARTA – The boss of Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos, announced a new wave of tourists to outer space with his spacecraft on Tuesday, November 23. Dailymail reports the group included two guests of honor and four paying customers for their tour.
Good Morning America hosts Michael Strahan and Laura Shepard Churchley, the eldest daughter of Alan Shepard who is credited with being the first American to fly into space, have been given honorary seats on the New Shepard rocket that will launch on December 9.
The other four passengers were people who had paid dearly for the experience, including space industry executive and philanthropist Dylan Taylor, investor Evan Dick, founder of Bess Ventures, Lane Bess and Cameron Bess. The Bess duo will be the first parent and child duo to fly in space.
Lift-off for the new crew is set for 10:00 ET (22.oo CST) from Blue Origin One Launch Site in West Texas and will mark the company's third space tourism mission for the Bezos-owned space company.
The first flight, which launched in July, included transporting Bezos himself and the second flight on October 13 carrying William Shatner, the actor best known for playing Captain Kirk in Star Trek. They travel at an altitude of 65 miles above the Earth's surface.
Although Bezos hasn't officially announced pricing for the flight. But actor Tom Hanks, who was asked to join the final mission in October, said in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel that he was "not willing to pay 28 million dollars" for the chair.
The December 9 flight marks New Shepard's 19th flight and the first time the rocket will carry six people in a Blue Origin capsule into space. On the previous mission it only accommodated four people.
The six-man crew will float at least 65 miles above the surface and spend about 10 minutes in zero gravity.
Blue Origin claims that their short trip into space will further help 'the company's vision of the millions who live and work in space for the benefit of Earth'.
I am going to space! Excited to be flying on @blueorigin's #NewShepard rocket on December 9th. @GMA @SMAC pic.twitter.com/IdclCqbNdD
— Michael Strahan (@michaelstrahan) November 23, 2021
Strahan, a former NFL athlete, has won the Super Bowl as a member of the New York Giants and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014. Since retiring, Strahan has been a two-time Emmy award winner and has won a Peabody award as a journalist.
Along with co-hosting 'Good Morning America,' he also hosted the game show '$100,000 Pyramid.'
“I have to say, there were a lot of people who looked and they said, 'You know what? Billionaires spend a lot of money going into space,' but it's bigger than that," Strahan said in an interview with Bezos after Blue Origin's first human flight, according to collectSpace.
"It's not just about you trying to go into space, it's huge in terms of education and for the things that are happening on this planet," he said.
Blue Origin noted that since Strahan was invited to join the flight, he would receive a fee. However, he plans to donate the money to the Boys & Girls Club.
Shepard Churchley bears his father's famous last name for being the first American to fly into space on May 5, 1961 on a suborbital flight aboard a Mercury capsule called Freedom 7.
"It's great for me to say the real Shepard will be flying in New Shepard," said Shepard Churchley, in a video interview posted by Blue Origin.
Shepard Churchley, currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, a foundation that raises funds for students and provides guidance to scholars pursuing careers and research in STEM. Churchley will also be the second-generation US astronaut to fly into space.
The first is Richard Garriott, son of Skylab and space shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott, who funded his own trip to the International Space Station in 2008.
“For our purposes today, the most interesting thing about Alan Shepard is that he is the namesake for this vehicle, the New Shepard, and that's because the profile of the mission we are doing today is very similar to the one Alan flew when he was the first American in space. sixty years ago," Bezos said at a press conference after his own flight into space, according to collectSpace.
Taylor, the third member of the flight, is Chairman & CEO of Voyager Space, a global space exploration company headquartered in Denver. He is also the founder of the global nonprofit Space for Humanity, which organized the planet's first Sponsored Citizen Astronaut Program.
Dick is an engineer, investor and Managing Member of Dick Holdings. He is also an ATP rated pilot, which means he is certified to fly for any airline, and enjoys sailing and riding his motorcycles.
Lane and Cameron Bess, father and son, who will make history as the first parent-child couple to venture to the last frontier.
Lane is best known for having helped start and build two cybersecurity companies, Zscaler and Palo Alto Networks, while his son is a content creator.
According to Blue Origin: 'Cameron self-identifies as pansexual and proud to represent marginalized communities and hopes their journey will inspire others.'
The six passengers will experience the same journey as Bezos did on July 20, when he, his brother Mark, ventured 66 miles above their surface.
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