posted 07-22-2022 02:08 PM               

First Egyptian and Portuguese Astronauts to join Dude Perfect Cofounder on New Shepard's 22nd Flight

Blue Origin today (July 22) announced the crew flying on its NS-22 mission will include Dude Perfect cofounder Coby Cotton, Portuguese entrepreneur Mário Ferreira, British-American mountaineer Vanessa O'Brien, technology leader Clint Kelly III, Egyptian engineer Sara Sabry, and telecommunications executive Steve Young. Sara will become the first person from Egypt to fly to space; Mário will become the first from Portugal. Vanessa will become the first woman to reach extremes on land, sea, and air, completing the Explorers' Extreme Trifecta, a Guinness World Record.

Each astronaut will carry a postcard to space on behalf of Blue Origin's foundation, Club for the Future, whose Postcards to Space program gives students access to space on Blue Origin's rockets. The Club's mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM for the benefit of Earth.

This mission will be the sixth human flight for the New Shepard program, the third flight this year, and the 22nd in its history. The flight date will be announced soon.

Meet the Crew

• Coby Cotton
  Coby is one of the five cofounders of the YouTube channel Dude Perfect, the most-subscribed sports channel on YouTube and one of the most popular in the world with more than 57 million followers. He co-founded the sports entertainment channel known for specializing in trick shots and comedy videos in 2009 with his college roommates Garrett Hilbert, Tyler Toney, Cody Jones, and his brother, Cory Cotton.

  Coby's seat is sponsored by MoonDAO, whose mission is to decentralize access to space exploration. MoonDAO members voted to have Coby represent them on this flight.

• Mário Ferreira
  Mário is a Portuguese entrepreneur, investor, and President of Pluris Investments Group, which includes more than 40 companies spanning tourism, media (TV and radio), real estate, insurance, and renewable energy. A passionate adventurer, Mário raced the Dakar, the world's most difficult car rally, in 2007, ran the London Marathon in 2010, and has been a scuba diver since he was 20. In 2003, Mário was decorated by the President of Portugal with the title of "Comendador."

• Vanessa O'Brien
  Vanessa is a British-American explorer. Following NS-22, Vanessa will become the first woman to reach extremes on land, sea, and air, completing the Explorers' Extreme Trifecta, a Guinness World Record. Vanessa will become the first woman to reach the Earth's highest peak (Mt. Everest), its deepest (Challenger Deep), and cross the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space. She is an advocate for climate change and a champion for women's equality and education, carrying the UN Women's flag to the summit of K2.

• Clint Kelly III
  Clint managed research and technology programs focused primarily on computer science and robotics while in government and in industry. In 1984, he started the Autonomous Land Vehicle project while at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and is credited with starting the development of the technology base leading to today's driverless cars. He and his wife have photographed wildlife on every continent from the High Arctic to Antarctica with an emphasis on big cats, polar bears, and all 21 species of penguins.

• Sara Sabry
  Sara is an Egyptian mechanical and biomedical engineer, and founder of Deep Space Initiative (DSI), a nonprofit aiming to increase accessibility for space research. She became Egypt's first female analog astronaut in 2021 after completing a two-week Moon mission simulating the extreme conditions astronauts experience in orbital space. Sara earned her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at the American University in Cairo and a master's in biomedical engineering from the Politecnico di Milano. She is currently pursuing a PhD in aerospace sciences with a focus on space suit design. Sara is fluent in Arabic, French, and English, and currently resides in Berlin.

  Sara's seat is sponsored by Space for Humanity (S4H), a nonprofit whose mission is to expand access to space for all of humanity. S4H also sponsored NS-21 astronaut Katya Echazarreta's seat.

• Steve Young
  Steve is the former CEO of Young's Communications LLC (Y-COM), the largest telecommunications contractor in the state of Florida under his leadership from 1992 to 2021. An avid fisherman, Steve serves as Governor of the Board at Eau Gallie Yacht Club and Committee Member of the Space Coast Coastal Conservation Association (CCA). He is also a large community contributor through TrinitY Group, his giving foundation, and owns Pineapples, a new restaurant in Melbourne, Florida.

posted 07-29-2022 10:35 AM               

NS-22 targets liftoff on August 4

Blue Origin today (July 19) announced its sixth human flight, NS-22, will lift off from Launch Site One on Thursday, August 4. The launch window opens at 8:30 AM CDT / 13:30 UTC.

posted 08-04-2022 09:30 AM               

Blue Origin Successfully Completes 22nd Mission to Space

Today, Blue Origin successfully completed its sixth human spaceflight and the 22nd flight for the New Shepard program. The astronaut crew included: Coby Cotton, Mário Ferreira, Vanessa O'Brien, Clint Kelly III, Sara Sabry, and Steve Young.

The crew achieved three historic firsts:

• Sara Sabry became the first person from Egypt to fly to space.

• Vanessa O'Brien became the first woman to reach extremes on land (Mt. Everest), sea (Challenger Deep), and air (pass the Kármán line), completing the Explorers' Extreme Trifecta, a Guinness World Record.

• Mário Ferreira became the first person from Portugal to fly to space.

"It's an honor for our team to provide our customers with a life-changing shift in perspective of our fragile planet," said Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President, New Shepard. "It's been just over a year since New Shepard's first human flight, and we have now flown 31 humans above the Karman line. Thank you to these early pioneers in helping us realize our vision of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth."