Next Blue Origin tourism launch to feature 1st repeat flyer

Blue Origin is gearing up for what’s becoming business as usual, so much that it’s allowing its first repeat customer.

The New Shepard space tourism flight has previously flown company founder Jeff Bezos, Star Trek’s William Shatner and NFL Hall-ofFamer Michael Strahan.

The upcoming launch isn’t flying with such a big name headliner, but NS-21, as in the 21st flight of the rocket, will have on board multimillionaire Evan Dick, who flew alongside Strahan last December on NS-19.

“I’ve wanted to spend my entire career in aerospace, and I didn’t get the opportunity to do that, so now I’m just late in my life getting the opportunity to be a part of it,” he said before his first flight. He’s an engineer, investor and managing member of Dick Holdings, LLC.

Prices for a ride on the New Shepard, named after the first astronaut in space Alan Shepard, have not been revealed by the company.

But Dick’s been able to land two trips. He and five others will launch from Blue

Origin’s West Texas facility on a launch date to be determined. It will be the fifth launch with passengers since the first with Bezos last July. The company said in March it was targeting another six flights in 2022.

Flights take less than 11 minutes from launch to landing, flying past the Karman line — about 62 miles high — the internationally recognized altitude for having gone into space.

The short flights allow the crew to unstrap and experience a few minutes of weightlessness while seeing the curvature of the Earth in the black of space.

Also flying is Katya Echazarreta, who will be the first Mexican-born woman in space and is getting her ride sponsored by nonprofit Space for Humanity, whose mission is the expand access to space. Echazarreta looks to highlight women and minorities, especially in the pursuit of science and math fields. She is the co-host of a YouTube series “Netflix IRL” and has a role on the CBS show “Mission Unstoppable.” She’s pursuing a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering at Johns Hopkins University and earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from UCLA in 2019.

During a video revealing she was getting a ride to space, Echazarreta said, “My mom is going to freak out. I don’t even know what to say.”

She’s also worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on five missions over a four-year stint, including work on the Mars Perseverance rover and Europa Clipper.

The rest of the six-person crew includes Hamish Harding, chairman of Action Aviation, who has a history of seeking world records in aviation, and buddy Victor Vescovo, co-founder of private equity investment firm Insight Equity, who has climbed the seven summits and skied to the North and South Poles as well as dived via submarine to the deepest point in the world’s five oceans.

Also headed to space are Victor Correa Hespanha, 28, a civil production engineer who will become the second Brazilian in space.

Rounding out the six is Jaison Robinson, who founded commercial real estate company JJM Investments.