posted 05-11-2019 12:00 AM               

Blue Origin kicks off kids' space club with offer to launch postcards

Jeff Bezos is adding another title to his credit: space postmaster.

The Amazon CEO and founder of Blue Origin on Thursday (May 9) announced that his private spaceflight company has created a new program to inspire today's youth to think about their future in space. To get them started, Bezos plans to launch and return 10,000 stamped postcards with students' visions for humanity beyond Earth.

"One of the things we have to do is inspire the future generations," said Bezos during a press event where he also unveiled his own far-reaching vision for space settlement, including Blue Origin's Blue Moon lunar lander. "So today, I am announcing that Blue Origin is founding the Club for the Future, whose mission is to inspire young people to build the future of life in space."

posted 08-29-2019 04:31 PM               

Blue Origin founded the nonprofit Club for the Future to inspire young people to pursue careers in STEM as well as help visualize life in space. For our first activity, we asked K-12 students around the world to send us postcards with their dreams of the future. We will fly the postcards on an upcoming New Shepard launch above the Kármán line into space then mail back to each student.

We've received thousands of postcards from 22 countries — and more come in every day. I've seen the messages and they are so hopeful and inspiring. We are in good hands.

posted 12-11-2019 12:58 PM               

Blue Origin sends kids' postcards to space on New Shepard launch

A commercial rocket's brief trip to space and back has given new meaning to the popular postcard slogan, "Wish you were here!"

Blue Origin, the private spaceflight company founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, launched a New Shepard rocket on a suborbital mission on Wednesday (Dec. 11), flying in part thousands of children's postcards in place of the passengers planned for future flights. The rocket mail was part of an educational project organized by Blue Origin's non-profit organization, Club for the Future.

posted 12-17-2019 01:11 AM               

I took the postcard template they offered for the flight and modified it a bit to keep the logo on the front and allow space for the stamp.

The "flown" stamp is on the left of the card, about 1/3 of the way down from the top of the card.

posted 12-17-2019 07:58 AM               

Here are a couple of more examples, via AndysTechGarage on Twitter:

Best gift ever!!! Andy and Eva's cards just arrived from the IAC 2019 in Washington DC via Texas and the EDGE OF SPACE courtesy of Blue Origin and Club for the Future.

posted 01-07-2020 12:17 PM               

"We hope to do more along those lines," he said. "I don't know if it'll be every flight, but we're going to try to do as many flights as we possibly can. If we get the number of cards that we're targeting, we'll be stuffing them in every nook and cranny."

posted 03-25-2020 07:01 PM               

Club for the Future At-Home Activity

As more schools around the country shift to online learning amidst the COVID-19 crisis, Blue Origin's nonprofit Club for the Future is seeking to build community during this isolated time at home by encouraging students, educators and parents to draw postcards answering the question: "What would you build in space that could help Earth?" The postcards will be flown to space on an upcoming flight of Blue Origin's fully reusable New Shepard rocket, then sent back to the participating students.

A template for creating a postcard can be downloaded here – along with mailing instructions to send a postcard to the Club For the Future to be launched into space by Blue Origin (Club For The Future, PO Box 5759 Kent, WA 98064 U.S.A). These instructions are also explained in this video:

"With Blue Origin's access to space on the New Shepard rocket, Club for the Future is able to offer students around the world the unique opportunity to send their hopes and dreams to space – for the cost of a stamp," said Josef Reinke, Club for the Future Director. "We have already flown thousands of postcards to space from students, and now they have a special flown in space keepsake that we hope inspires them to pursue their dreams."

The Club's first mission took place in December 2019, flying the first batch of thousands of postcards from students from around the world to space and back on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket. After their flight, each postcard was stamped "flown in space" before being returned to students' mailboxes through the United States Postal Service.

In addition to the ongoing postcard campaign, the Club will release a suite of curriculum for students to continue STEM virtual learning in the coming weeks.

Founded in 2019 by Blue Origin, Club for the Future brings together teachers and K-12 students from around the world to engage in activities giving youth direct access to space through Blue Origin's reusable launch vehicles.

posted 05-05-2020 06:09 PM               

Send your teacher a thank you note from SPACE!

Educators everywhere have been working harder than ever to transition classrooms into the virtual world — and we believe they deserve a HUGE out-of-this-world THANK YOU from all of us.

This Teachers' Day, we're inviting students and parents to write or draw a "Thank You" postcard from space to each of your teachers, administrators, and school staff for all of their hard and inspiring work. Once you have completed your drawings, mail your postcards to the Club for the Future, and we will send them to space on a future New Shepard rocket launch with Blue Origin. When your postcards return safely back to Earth, we'll mail them to your teachers for a special space-flown keepsake.

posted 07-27-2020 12:43 PM               

Why do you think #EarthNeedsSpace?

Blue Origin's nonprofit, Club for the Future, is posing the question, "Why do you think Earth needs space?" to students around the world, and asking them to draw or write their idea on a postcard. The Club will fly the postcards to space and back on upcoming launches of its Blue Origin New Shepard rocket, and return each postcard to its sender with a 'Flown to Space' stamp.

The intention behind Earth Needs Space is to give students, parents, and educators a meaningful way to engage in STEM activities while at home during the pandemic and beyond, access to Club for the Future and Blue Origin's direct expertise, and open numerous pathways for discussions about the benefits of space for Earth—from leveraging in-space resources and a new frontier for humanity to grow, to exploration, scientific discovery, and hope for the future.

Click here to learn more about the Club and how to submit your own postcard. Follow @clubforfuture on Instagram and Twitter, as well as the hashtag #EarthNeedsSpace.

posted 09-22-2020 10:12 AM               

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.

posted 04-14-2021 05:59 PM               

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.

posted 11-01-2021 04:45 PM               

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.

posted 12-23-2021 09:46 PM               

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.

posted 02-11-2023 07:31 PM               

Shaquille O'Neal's Big Chicken to launch postcards to space with Blue Origin

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."

posted 10-16-2023 12:00 AM               

Benjamin Moore partners with Blue Origin to reveal space-themed color of 2024

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.

posted 03-01-2024 12:12 PM               

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.