Blue Origin launch live: Meet the tourists paying to go to space on Jeff Bezos’ $2.5bn rocket

After a tender embrace with her husband (fellow aerospace engineer Tommy Franklin), Netflix’s “Space Gal” Emily Calandrelli gave a vivid account of what it felt like to travel into space for the first time.

The first shock, she said, was the feeling of intense speed and G-force as New Shepard’s booster rocket separates from the capsule sending Blue Origin’s astronaut tourists into space.

“That kick in the pants from the divorce is wild,” Calandrelli explained outside the pod. ‘It’s wild!’

“I had to tell my brain, ‘This is normal. This is expected. This should be a kick in the pants,'” the veteran science communicator and YouTuber continued.

Once she had her moment of weightlessness in microgravity, the Space Gal said she immediately turned around to look at Earth.

‘There was a lot of darkness. There was so much space. I didn’t expect to see so much space,” Calandrelli said, tears welling in his eyes. ‘And I said, “That’s our planet! That’s our planet!” It’s the same feeling I got when our children were born.”

“I had the same feeling when I saw it for the first time,” she said. ‘It was beautiful.’

You can see the spacecraft carrying NS-28’s six occupants parachuting into the desert, ending their space expedition.

Blue Origin’s new and returning space tourists just parachuted safely back to Earth in the New Shepard capsule.

As the recovery crew drives off to pick up these astronauts, the Blue Origin team spoke with Karsen Kitchen, 21, who was one of six crew members for Blue Origin’s New Shepard 26 (NS-26) flight last summer.

“Honestly, I bet they’re just overcome with emotion,” Kitchen said. “You’re so grateful for the experience you just had.”

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student not only studies communications and astronomy, but founded the group Orbitelle – ‘established to encourage women of all ages to pursue opportunities in space exploration.’

(Kitchen can be seen at the top right of the third photo below)

The dust has cleared and the New Shepard rocket is visible, high in the West Texas desert.

“The return is one of our proudest moments,” said the Blue Origin team.

A successful touchdown means the booster can be reused for another space tourism mission.

The New Shepard booster’s rapid descent released a sonic boom as it fell back to Earth for a safe, reusable landing.

The vertical landing, which began when the engines restarted, kicked up a giant cloud of dust from West Texas

NS-28 has moved its fins and launched!

“New Shepard has cleared the tower and is heading into space,” a Blue Origins crew member announced as the spacecraft approached “max Q,” the most intense phase during which these space tourists will experience 3 G’s of force as they climb above Earth .

There isn’t a cloud in sight on today’s livestream as Blue Origin prepares for the explosion.

And the view will likely only get better as the spacecraft lifts off and floats through Earth’s stratosphere on its way along the official legal boundary of space, the Kármán line.

“Today’s flight may give you the best perspective of our planet,” a Blue Origin spokesperson boasted on the company’s feed.

Blue Origin’s new and returning tourists have just been cozied up in New Shepard’s capsule.

Sarah Knights of Blue Origin helps lock them up and take care of the final checklist items. They can be seen on the live cam (seen below left).

Knights served as lead astronaut trainer for Star Trek Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, during his own Blue Origin flight into space on October 13, 2021.

Today’s space cowboys are rested and ready for their flight.

From left to right: Marc Hagle, Austin Litteral, Emily Calandrelli, JD Russell, Henry Wolfond and Sharon Hagle.

Blue Origin’s six-person crew for this 28th flight includes best-selling author and MIT-trained engineer known to fans of her Netflix and YouTube shows as Emily “The Space Gal,” Emily Calandrelli.

Also into space: couple Marc and Sharon Hagle of Winter Park, Florida, are paying for their second joyride out of Earth’s atmosphere with Blue Origin; alongside aviator and CEO, Hank Wolfond; another director, J.D. Russell; and competition winner Austin Litteral, a financial services professional and father of two.

Calandrelli, host of Netflix’s “Emily’s Wonder Lab,” is flying for this flight as part of the nonprofit Space For Humanity’s Citizen Astronaut Program (CAP) Ambassador.

The seat of Litteral was sponsored by Whatnot.