Blue Origin is ready to launch the NS-37 mission soon. Comprising six crew members, NS-37 will be the company’s seventh crewed flight of 2025 and 37th overall mission. It will also mark Blue Origin‘s 16th human spaceflight on the New Shepard spacecraft. The launch date is yet to be announced.
Like several previous missions, NS-37 will notch another first of launching a wheelchair user to space. These flights usually last 10 minutes from start to finish, giving the space tourists a couple of minutes to float in microgravity. The New Shepard booster lands after launching the New Shepard spacecraft from West Texas to beyond the Kármán line, the internationally recognised boundary of space 100 kilometres above Earth’s surface.
🚀Meet the New Shepard NS-37 crew: Michi Benthaus, Joey Hyde, Hans Koenigsmann, Neal Milch, Adonis Pouroulis, and Jason Stansell. Read more: https://t.co/6A07VXReh6 pic.twitter.com/Q2UVDxfrQB
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) December 3, 2025
Meet the NS-37 crew
1. Michaela Benthaus or Michi – She is an aerospace and mechatronics engineer who’ll be the first wheelchair user to reach space. Michi was involved in a mountain biking accident in 2018 that resulted in a spinal cord injury impacting her ability to walk, but that didn’t stop her from pursuing a life full of adventures. In 2022, she flew aboard a Zero-G research flight and completed an analog astronaut mission. Michi also continues to pursue sporting activities outside of work, including wheelchair tennis.
2. Joey Hyde – He’s a Florida-based physicist with a PhD in physics and a quantitative investor who recently retired from a leading hedge fund. Inspired by the 1988 launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis, Hyde says he’s committed to advancing science and inspiring future generations of explorers.
3. Hans Koenigsmann – A German-American aerospace engineer, Koenigsmann was one of the earliest team members at Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX where he worked for two decades. He is actively involved in advisory and board roles across multiple aerospace companies, and is also a licensed pilot and an avid skier.
4. Neal Milch – Milch is a global business executive and entrepreneur who currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees at Jackson Laboratory, “a nonprofit biomedical research institute where he supports genetic research to improve human health.”
5. Adonis Pouroulis – Pouroulis is an entrepreneur, investor, and mining engineer and wears many hats. He is the founder and chairman of Pella Resources, co-founder of Energy Revolution Ventures, chairman of Rainbow Rare Earths, and the CEO of Chariot Limited that focus on energy transition.
6. Jason Stansell – Stansell is a computer scientist with a love for adventure, which is reflected by his interest in scuba diving, driving cars, riding motorcycles, flying planes, and studying rocketry. According to Blue Origin, he’s a “self proclaimed space nerd” who is also based in West Texas.
Blue Origin’s many records
With Michi’s successful flight, Blue Origin will add another record to its long list of accomplishments. The company has to date launched the oldest person to space (Wally Funk age 82), youngest person to space (Oliver Daemen, age 18), first siblings to space (Mark and Jeff Bezos), the all-female crew with pop star Katy Perry, first Indian tourist (Gopi Thothakura) and first celebrity to space (Star Trek’s William Shatner).
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