Six civilians are set to take a journey to the edge of space this weekend aboard a Blue Origin rocket, continuing the company’s mission of making space travel more accessible to private individuals.

When and how to watch the lift-off and landing

While most of us won’t be among those making the trip, Blue Origin will be offering a livestream of the launch, giving viewers the chance to watch the mission unfold from the ground. The broadcast will include footage of lift-off, the capsule’s journey to space, and its return. The livestream will be provided to us by Blue Origin.  

The rocket, called New Shepard, will lift off from Blue Origin’s launch site in west Texas. This marks the company’s 12th crewed flight. Since its first human mission in July 2021, which included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos himself, the spacecraft has carried 58 people to space.

Blue Origin, founded by Bezos in 2000, is one of several private companies racing to develop commercial spaceflight. The company’s short trips aim to give paying customers a taste of space travel without the need for years of astronaut training.

When Katy Perry went to space and came back – in 11 minutes

Popstar Katy Perry was part of a six-member, all-women crew that took off from Texas as part of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space venture, Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-31 mission.

Also on board was Jeff Bezos’ fiancée, Lauren Sanchez, who had handpicked her companions for the journey.

The mission aboard the New Shepard NS-31 lifted the crew more than 100 km above the Earth’s surface, taking them to the “edge of space” beyond the Kármán line — the internationally recognised boundary of space, according to an AFP report.

About New Shepard

New Shepard consists of a rocket and a crew capsule with large windows, allowing passengers a rare view of Earth from space. Though the flight lasts only around 10 minutes, passengers will experience a few moments of weightlessness and witness the curve of the planet from above.

As the space tourism industry grows, more civilians are getting the opportunity to fly beyond Earth’s atmosphere. This launch is another step in what Blue Origin calls its vision of “millions of people living and working in space.”