Four business leaders, one scientists and a mystery guest are about to embark on Blue Origin’s next human spaceflight, where they will soar high above Earth’s atmosphere after lifting off from Texas.
The spaceflight company, owned by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has become famous for the brief trips to the edge of space it offers to customers on its New Shepard spacecraft. And on Wednesday, Oct. 1, Blue Origin announced that six more people are due to board the vehicle for its first human flight in more than two months.
The company unveiled the names of all but one of them, who Blue Origin said has asked to remain anonymous until the spacecraft lands.
Blue Origin made big news earlier in 2025 when it selected some big names, including pop star Katy Perry and broadcast journalist Gayle King, to take part in an all-women spaceflight in April. The upcoming mission will be the New Shepard’s fifth spaceflight since that headline-grabbing launch, all but one of which have included people on board.
Here’s everything to know about Blue Origin’s next New Shepard mission, known as NS-36 – the vehicle’s 15th human spaceflight and 36th overall.
When is the next Blue Origin rocket launch?
Blue Origin has not yet officially announced a target date for liftoff as of Friday, Oct. 3.
However, a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory suggests Blue Origin could be working toward an Oct. 8 launch, with a backup opportunity available the next day.
Where are Blue Origin launches?
Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launches take place from the company’s private ranch facility known as Launch Site One in Texas. The facility is located more than 140 miles east of El Paso near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Who is the crew of the next Blue Origin mission?
When the New Shepard gets off the ground again, the six people selected to board it will join 75 others who have flown on the spacecraft across 14 previous human spaceflights, including five repeat passengers.
One of the passengers will remain anonymous until after the flight, Blue Origin said. Here’s a look at the other five passengers of a mission known as NS-36:
Does Jeff Bezos own Blue Origin? What to know
Billionaire Jeff Bezos, best known for founding Amazon, is the founder of the private space technology company Blue Origin.
Bezos himself even boarded Blue Origin’s New Shepard for its maiden crewed voyage in July 2021, which came after the spacecraft flew on 15 flight tests beginning in 2012. For nearly four years since its first crewed mission, the New Shepard spacecraft has served as a powerful symbol of Blue Origin’s commercial spaceflight ambitions amid a growing space tourism industry.
In addition to sending space tourists on brief joy rides to the edge of space, Blue Origin has also increasingly sought to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX for NASA’s business, as well as the business of other private companies.
Blue Origin’s massive New Glenn rocket, which flew on its inaugural flight test in January 2025 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, is also due to launch again in fall 2025 from Florida. At 322 feet tall, the spacecraft rivals SpaceX’s 403-foot Starship in size.
What happens during a New Shepard rocket launch?
Each spaceflight on a New Shepard vehicle lasts about 11 minutes from liftoff to capsule touchdown.
Named after astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, the 60-foot-tall New Shepard rocket is topped with the gum drop-shaped crew capsule. The spacecraft operates completely autonomously, meaning no pilots are aboard.
During its ascent, the spacecraft reaches supersonic speeds surpassing 2,000 mph before the rocket booster separates from the crew capsule. At that point, the capsule becomes weightless as the spacecraft continues toward its highest point on its brief voyage above the Kármán Line – the 62-mile-high internationally recognized boundary of space.
If it’s a mission with people on board, the passengers will at this time experience a few minutes of microgravity after they unstrap themselves from their seats to gaze out the capsule’s large windows and take in a stunning view of Earth.
Meanwhile, the rocket booster heads back to the ground while firing its engines and using its fins to slow and control its descent to land vertical about two miles from the launchpad.
The capsule itself eventually begins what Blue Origin refers to as a “stable freefall” – plummeting back to Earth as three massive parachutes deploy and the capsule makes a soft landing in the desert, sending up plumes of dust.
How much does it cost to ride Blue Origin?
If you have dreams of blasting off to orbit on a Blue Origin spacecraft, you likely need to either have very deep pockets or a name that’s recognizable enough to get you invited as an honored guest.
Though Blue Origin does not publicly list prices on its website, a form to reserve a seat requires customers to agree to a $150,000 deposit alone.
And if the price of the first ticket sold for a Blue Origin spaceflight in 2021 is any indicator, seats likely cost millions of dollars. The $28 million ticket price was the winning bid in an auction that included 7,600 people registered to bid from 159 countries.
However, a select few passengers over the years have had their seats aboard New Shepard paid through grants and other funding methods from large institutions.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Blue Origin to send 6 people (including 1 mystery passenger) on next spaceflight
Reporting by Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY NETWORK / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
