Key Points
A Jeff Bezos-founded Blue Origin flight, carrying six crew, including a veteran Indian pilot, Captain Gopichand Thotakura, took off into the edge of space on Sunday, nearly two years after the company's uncrewed test flight ended in a failure...
The New Shepard rocket and capsule lifted off at 9:36 am (local time) from Blue Origins facilities on a private ranch in West Texas, CNN reported..
The six crew aboard the capsule are - Captain Thotakura from Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada, venture capitalist Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, founder of the French craft brewery Brasserie Mont-Blanc, software engineer and entrepreneur Kenneth L Hess, retired accountant Carol Schaller and Ed Dwight, a retired US Air Force captain who was selected by then US President John F Kennedy in 1961 to become the country's first Black astronaut candidate, according to a CNN report...
The New Shepard rocket, which flies cargo and humans on short trips to the edge of space, had been grounded since a September 2022 uncrewed mission failed roughly a minute after liftoff from Texas, forcing the rocket's capsule full of Nasa experiments to safely eject mid-flight...
Over the years, Captain Thotakura's journey has seen him soar through various aviation disciplines, including commercial jet flying, bush piloting, aerobatics, seaplane operations, and even hot air ballooning..
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