NS-25 was the first crewed New Shepard flight since NS-22 in August 2022. The New Shepard fleet was grounded following a September 2022 engine failure on an uncrewed mission. The vehicle resumed flight in December 2023.[3]
NS-25 carried a crew of six to a maximum altitude of around 106 km.[4] At T+03:12, the crew experienced weightlessness, and at T+03:31, the capsule passed the Kármán line.[5] The booster landed 7 minutes after launch, while the capsule, deploying only 2 of its 3 parachutes, touched down 10 minutes after liftoff. Launch commentators assured that the capsule is designed to land safely with only two parachutes.[6][7]
Ed Dwight is often cited as the first African-American astronaut candidate. He made it to the second round of a 1961 Air Force program from which NASA selected astronauts, but was not selected. When he eventually flew as a space tourist on the Blue Origin suborbital flight at age 90 years, 253 days, he became the oldest person to reach space.[8][9]
