If you have previously registered, but forgotten your password, click here.
Robert Pearlman
Another batch of postcards will fly on Blue Origin's New Shepard Mission 13 (NS-13), including some with additional ink stamp:
Also on board will be tens of thousands of postcards from Blue Origin's nonprofit, Club for the Future, some of which will include a special NASA Artemis stamp.
Robert Pearlman
Club for the Future release
Club for the Future expands collaborations with leading STEM organizations
Club for the Future sent more than 25,000 postcards to space and back today onboard Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle. Postcards came from students and classrooms in more than a dozen countries, including Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates, bringing the total number of countries participating in the program to more than 100, spanning seven continents. All postcards are returned to each person with a "Flown to Space" and NASA Artemis stamp.
In addition to giving students direct access to space through Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket, the Club has expanded its collaborations with several leading STEM organizations to integrate the Postcards-to-Space program into education initiatives, as well as supported the development of space-focused curriculum and activities.
Highlights include collaborations with the Challenger Center to develop Destination Moon, a virtual STEM experience for 7th and 8th graders to take a virtual trip to the Moon and explore the lunar surface; Microsoft Hacking STEM to enable students to use a free interactive data science project to investigate how data powers our astronauts, our space missions, and our world; and Project Ianos, a STEM education initiative funded by NASA to develop videos, curriculum, and hands-on learning tools focused on the past, present, and future of human spaceflight for 5th to 8th graders.
Additionally, the Club's partnership with Florida-based nonprofit STEM2 Hub on Dream Big Florida, an initiative to bring every student in Florida access to space, will extend into the 2021-2022 school year.
thisismills
My son received his postcard back today, flown on the NS-18 flight. It has the Blue Origin "Flown To Space" blue rubber stamp and mailed on Oct. 27th from Seattle, Washington.
It got me thinking, could we crowd source a list of dates and mailing locations for the postcards based on ones that have been received back by cS members and/or their families.
NS-12: El Paso, TX on December 12, 2019.
NS-13: El Paso, TX on October 22-24, 2020.
NS-14:
NS-15:
NS-16:
NS-17:
NS-18: Seattle, WA on October 21 or 27, 2021.
Liembo
When did your son mail his in? I am curious what the lag time could look like, though surely it will vary greatly with launch cadence and volume of participation.
advrons
I received my postcards yesterday and they are signed with a stamp "FLOWN TO SPACE * ON NEW SHEPARD * BLUE ORIGIN" (without specifying the mission number) and the date of mailing from Seattle is October 21, 2021.
How do I know on which mission they flew?
Robert Pearlman
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex release
Send a Postcard to Space
Dec. 21, 2021 - Jan. 2, 2022
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and Club for the Future, founded by Blue Origin, have joined to send your Postcards to Space for free. During your visit, adorn and address a postcard at the following locations. Then, your postcard will fly on a future 2022 Blue Origin mission (date TBD).
Create, theme and decorate your postcards by visiting the following areas:
NASA Central Outside of the Space Shop Dec. 21 through Jan. 2 from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Holidays in Space Holiday Village Dec. 17-31 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Guests will then drop their postcard in the official Payload Locker (Space Shop) or official box (Village) to fly to space on a future Blue Origin New Shepard rocket. Once flown it will be officially stamped "Flown to Space" and returned.
This experience is included with daily admission and postcards are no additional cost.
Shaquille O'Neal is dreaming of the day he can sell you a chicken sandwich in space. Until then, though, his restaurant chain will send your postcards there first.
Big Chicken, which was founded by the retired four-time NBA (National Basketball Association) champion in 2018, has teamed up with Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' commercial spaceflight company, "to feed the imaginations of the next generation of explorers for the benefit of Earth and space chicken."
What do you get when you mix a commercial spaceflight company with a manufacturer of premium paints?
A shade of blue with a focus on inspiring future generations about STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] education and careers in the space industry.
Ken Havekotte
Here is a latest Blue Origin flown postcard with a Feb. 23, 2024 meter-machine cancel at Seattle, Washington. The Club for the Future printed postcards by Blue Origin were the latest batch of 38,000 cards that flew on the New Shepard (NS-24) flight more than two months ago from Launch Site One at Van Horn, Texas.
From what I am told, the actual launch/flight day was Dec. 19, 2023, after a successful return to flight following the failure of NS-23 in Sept. 2022 that grounded further New Shepard rocket flights for a 15-month period. The 60- foot high flight vehicle on Flight NS-24 launched 33 payloads along with the multi-thousands of postcards from students around the world.
The New Shepard series of short trips to and from the edge of space are about 10-minutes of flight time for humans and cargo. This was the 24th rocket flight by Blue Origin, founded in 2000 by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos at Kent, Washington, as one of the pioneering commercial space firms of tourism rocket rides.
advertisement