Six astronauts took a brief trip to suborbital space in Blue Origin's first crewed flight in two years.
While the previous mission, in 2022, went well, the company conducted an uncrewed research flight a month later that was not as successful.
The unmanned rocket had an engine nozzle malfunction that caused the New Shepard capsule to abort and move away from the rocket. He successfully parachuted to a safe landing, but this mishap caused the New Shepard to be grounded while Blue Origin investigated and could solve the problem.
Blue Origin is the space tourism and exploration company created by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. The New Shepard is a fully reusable suborbital launch vehicle designed to take tourists to and from space.
A few years the seventh manned space flight by Blue Origin is complete. In total, New Shephard carried 37 people into space.
On board the NS-25 mission were Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, Gopi Thotakura and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight.
Ed Dwight, 90, was selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as the nation's first black astronaut candidate, but he never had the opportunity to fly.
Ed Dwight moments after being in space for the Blue Origin NS-25 mission
Ed's seat on the space mission was sponsored by a non-profit organization. Although the actual price of participating in one of these missions is unknown, some reports suggest it could cost around $500,000.
What is the New Shepard capsule that takes people into space?
The New Shepard is built for human flight and takes astronauts on the 11-minute journey that Blue Origin just completed.
It has a pressurized crew capsule that can fit up to six people inside and returns separately from the rest of the rocket. He goes up with the rocket, then separates and returns under parachutes.
Three parachutes are attached to the capsule, but only two were fully inflated during Sunday's mission.
Featured image: via Blue Origin press release