Blue Origin successfully launched six tourists to space on its New Shepard spacecraft on January 22. The NS-38 mission lifted off at 9:56 pm IST from Blue Origin‘s Launch Site One in West Texas on the company’s first crew flight of 2026.
Blue Origin New Shepard NG-38 launch on a suborbital flight from West Texas.https://t.co/qfOUUJTURN pic.twitter.com/R30P2qtRpx
— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) January 22, 2026
The crew comprised of Dr. Laura Stiles, Tim Drexler, Dr. Linda Edwards, Alain Fernandez, Alberto Gutiérrez, and Jim Hendren – all flew on their first suborbital flight.
The New Shepard booster landed at the launch pad seven minutes after liftoff, and the crew experienced a few of minutes of weightlessness. New Shepard flights reach a maximum altitude of a little over 100 kilometres beyond the Karman Line – the internationally recognised boundary of space.
At the 11th minute, the crew capsule touched down in the desert, concluding the mission.
Stiles replaced Andrew Yaffe, the original crew member who was not fit to fly due to an illness. She joined Blue Origin in 2013 and currently serves as the Director for the New Shepard launch operations and training.
Blue Origin crew describes joy ride
Stiles was joined by Linda Edwards – a retired obstetrician/gynecologist, Jim Hendren – retired US Air Force Colonel and former fighter pilot, Alberto Gutiérrez – an entrepreneur, technologist and world traveler, Timothy Drexler, – former owner and CEO of Ace Asphalt and a certified aviator, Alain Fernandez – and international real estate developer and investor
“I had to wait since 1992 to have that fantastic experience,” Fernandez said, calling the experience “exceptional.”
“Nothing I’ve done compares to this. This is unbelievable,” Hendren described the flight.
“There have been so many people who have worked so hard and I got to be there. It was incredible,” Stiles, who was visibly emotional, said after the flight. “[We saw] the Earth against the darkness, We saw the Moon…it’s gonna take a long time to process what just happened.”
NS-38 marked the 38th mission of Blue Origin and the 17th crew flight to date. With today’s mission, the company has now flown 98 humans to space, and six of them have flown twice.
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