Blue Origin’s Latest Mission Propels Six More Humans to Space’s Edge

Another day, another billionaire rocket company shooting people into space. Blue Origin just wrapped up its 32nd New Shepard mission, hauling six more humans past the Kármán line for their ten minutes of weightlessness and Instagram glory.

Billionaire space tourism hits new heights as Blue Origin ferries another batch of Instagram astronauts past Earth’s atmosphere.

The NS-32 flight blasted off from West Texas on May 31, marking the company’s twelfth human spaceflight. That brings their total passenger count to 64 people who’ve technically been to space—if you count a quick hop above 100 kilometers as “space travel.” Four of them apparently liked it enough to go back for seconds.

This time around, the crew wasn’t packed with celebrities trying to stay relevant. Blue Origin sent up a K-12 teacher, a doctor, an ambassador, two entrepreneurs, and some aerospace executive. They came from Panama, New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S., because nothing says international cooperation like strapping yourself to a rocket together. The capsule also carried over 1,000 postcards from students as part of Club for the Future’s educational campaign to inspire the next generation about space exploration.

The whole thing took about 10-12 minutes. Up, float around, back down. The autonomous capsule detached from its booster, both pieces landing separately like they’re supposed to. No drama, no explosions, just another routine trip to the edge of space. Blue Origin’s gotten pretty good at this repetitive dance since Jeff Bezos took his own joyride in July 2021. William Shatner and Katy Perry have also taken the plunge, adding some star power to the company’s passenger manifest.

Here’s the part where they pat themselves on the back for being green. The BE-3PM engine burns liquid hydrogen and oxygen, so the only thing coming out the back end is water vapor. Sure, it’s reusable and technically carbon-neutral, but let’s not pretend launching rockets for rich people’s bucket lists is saving the planet.

They streamed the whole thing online, naturally. Thirty minutes of pre-launch coverage for anyone who wanted to watch. They’re even selling mission patches and merch, because of course they are.

Blue Origin keeps insisting they’re “democratizing space” by letting teachers and doctors tag along with the millionaires. Maybe they are. Or maybe they’re just really good at making suborbital hops look like humanity’s next frontier.

Either way, 64 people have now seen Earth’s curve firsthand, even if only briefly.