Blue Origin’s NS-22 Mission

  • Mission: NS-22 on August 4, 2022
  • Crew: Vanessa O’Brien, Coby Cotton, Mário Ferreira, Clint Kelly III, Sara Sabry, and Steve Young.
  • Rocket/vehicle: New Shepard
  • Apogee altitude reached:
    • The crew capsule reached an apogee of 347,585ft AGL / 351,585ft MSL (106 km AGL / 107 km MSL)
    • The booster reached an apogee of 347,219 ft AGL / 350,866 ft MSL (106 km AGL / 107 km MSL)
  • Flight duration: The mission elapsed time was 10 min 20 sec.
  • Max Ascent Velocity:  2,239 mph / 3,603 km/h at Launch Site One, TX
  • Takeoff & landing times:
    • Official launch time was 8:56:07 AM CDT / 13:56:07 UTC.
    • Capsule landing occurred at 9:06:27 AM CDT / 14:06:27 UTC

Vanessa meets 11-year-old Katherine from West Sussex, who had just months earlier selected Vanessa as her favourite explorer to write about for a school project. After being selected on Blue Origin’s NS-22 spaceflight, Vanessa surprises Katherine by asking her what she would like Vanessa to take to Space for her.

Zero Gravity Space Training at Kennedy Space Center with Astronaut Wrangler Christina Korp and Apollo 16 Astronaut Charlie Duke on March 13, 2022. Special thanks to Zero G Corporation for video and photographs used in the making of this video and the Afterhours Mix In A Landscape by William Orbit from the Classic Chillout Album.

Zero Gravity Space Training

I am grateful to have completed Zero Gravity training with Astronaut Wrangler Christina Korp and Apollo 16 Astronaut Charlie Duke on Sunday, March 13, 2020. This was one of the best experiences, equally challenging & fun. Special thanks to Zero-G and Walter Lowe for pictures and video. I especially enjoyed flying with the team at HopTera Aviation Industries, who defied gravity like pros.

We took Flight #598 on G-Force One, a 727-200 plane modified to perform parabolic flight maneuvers. Its forward section contains a floating zone with 66 feet of open space for passengers to float & fly during Martian (1/3 gravity), lunar (1/6 gravity), & zero gravity conditions. For those who are new to this, zero gravity gives you the most freedom of movement.  And yes, about 15% of our team used a sick bag.

No flight would be complete without a marriage proposal, check, and noted, we also had two sets of parents – a mom and her son, and a dad and his two sons. However, no daughters!!! So, if you’ll indulge me with artistic license, I will attempt to recreate Michelangelo’s “First Man” from the Sistine Chapel, a jellybean toss, and somersault or two in the video, plus some stylized photos.

I have never been this excited about Space. Although I don’t know yet how I’ll get there, please know the Universe and I are conspiring :-).

For more information about Zero Gravity Corporation click here.

Aim Higher Gala

The AIM HIGHER GALA celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 16, the future Moon missions on Artemis, International space, and showcases the way space exploration makes life better on Earth.

Join Apollo 16 Moonwalker Charlie Duke, the 10th man to walk on the Moon, and past and future astronauts and other icons of space exploration.

May 3, 2022 at the Science Museum in London…