Prepared by: Mustafa Al-Zoubi
The Blue Origin space company plans to send a female crew into space next year, led by Lauren Sanchez, the wife of billionaire Jeff Bezos, owner of the company, next year.
“I’ll be leading the mission in early 2024,” Sanchez said. She didn’t reveal the identities of the five women who joined her until closer to the launch date, and confirmed that she’s very excited and a little nervous about going into space.
She added, “The flight reflects the plans of NASA, which will send the first female astronaut to the moon in 2025 as part of the Artemis program.”
Sanchez is known in the United States as a media personality and news anchor, and holds a pilot’s license.
According to the company’s website, crew members can get full flight training in just two days.
Tourists travel to space at the speed of sound, across the Kerman line (the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space), and float without weight for several minutes.
Origin currently has two launch vehicles, including the New Shepard, named after the first American in space, Alan Shepard.
The reusable, self-driving vehicle consists of a crew capsule and a booster rocket, which runs on a mixture of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which is more environmentally friendly than traditional rocket fuel.
