Blue Origin NS-19 was a

New Shepard New Shepard is a Reusable launch vehicle, fully reusable Sub-orbital spaceflight, sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin. The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, who became the List of space travelers by nationali ...

sub-orbital spaceflight A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the surface of the primary (astronomy), gravitating body from which it was launched. Hence, it will not complete one orbital ...

mission operated by

Blue Origin Blue Origin Enterprises, L.P. is an American space technology company headquartered in Kent, Washington. The company operates the suborbital New Shepard rocket and the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. In addition to producing engines for its own ...

that launched on 11 December 2021. The flight was scheduled to launch on 9 December 2021, later delayed to 11 December 2021. The

mission patch A mission patch is a cloth reproduction of a spaceflight mission emblem worn by astronauts and other personnel affiliated with that mission. It is usually executed as an embroidered patch. The term ''space patch'' is mostly applied to an emblem des ...

of the flight also featured the initials of Glen de Vries who died in a plane crash a month after flying on Blue Origin's previous flight NS-18. The passengers of NS-19 were the final recipients of the FAA Commercial Space Astronaut Wings, an aviator wings-like badge created by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

to encourage and draw attention to commercial space flight.

Passengers

The passengers on NS-19 were nicknamed the "Original Six". They included Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of the first U.S. astronaut in space, as well the namesake for the New Shepard spaceflight program,

Alan Shepard Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he became the List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astr ...

, and

Michael Strahan Michael Anthony Strahan ( ; born November 21, 1971) is an American television host, journalist, and former professional American football, football player. He played his entire 15-year professional career as a defensive end for the New York Gian ...

, a Hall of Fame former

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

defensive end, as well as a co-anchor of ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

'' and analyst for ''

Fox NFL Sunday ''Fox NFL Sunday'' is an American sports television program broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television network. The show debuted on September 4, 1994, and serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL ...

''; both as guests of Blue Origin. Paying passengers included executive Dylan Taylor, investor Evan Dick, Bess Ventures founder

Lane Bess Lane Bess (born September 18, 1961) is a venture capitalist known for his work in technology. He has served as principal and founder of family fund Bess Ventures and Advisory, LLC, a strategic management, investment and marketing services firm, ...

and his child, Cameron. The latter became the first parent and child on the same

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such ...

. Cameron Bess became the youngest American at age 23 (Until Karsen Kitchen on NS-26 at age 21 on August 29, 2024.), first to go with a parent, first openly furry, and first openly

pansexual Pansexuality is sexual, romantic, or emotional attraction towards people of all genders, or regardless of their sex or gender identity. Pansexual people may refer to themselves as gender-blind, asserting that gender and sex are not determ ...

to fly to space. Strahan, at 6 feet, 5 inches tall (196 cm), became the tallest person in history to reach space.

References

{{Blue Origin Suborbital space tourism flights 2021 in spaceflight Test spaceflights Aviation history of the United States Suborbital human spaceflights 2021 in Texas 2021 in aviation December 2021 in the United States New Shepard missions