Blue Origin’s next space tourism mission will launch this weekend, if all goes according to plan.
Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company announced on Wednesday (July 30) that it’s targeting Sunday (Aug. 3) for the flight, which is called NS-34 because it’s the 34th overall mission for Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle.
NS-34 will lift off from the company’s West Texas spaceport, near the town of Van Horn, on Sunday during a window that opens at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT; 7:30 a.m. local Texas time). Blue Origin will stream the action live, starting 30 minutes before launch.
NS-34’s passengers are headlined by 34-year-old crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who in June 2021 put down the winning bid — $28 million — in an auction for a seat aboard Blue Origin’s first-ever human spaceflight.
Sun couldn’t fly on that mission due to scheduling issues. It launched on July 20, 2021 — the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing — with Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk and Dutch student Oliver Daemen onboard.
Sun’s five crewmates on NS-34 are real estate investor and adventurer Arvinder (Arvi) Singh Bahal, who was born in India but is now an American citizen; Turkish businessman and photographer Gökhan Erdem; Deborah Martorell, a journalist and meteorologist from Puerto Rico; Englishman Lionel Pitchford, who has run an orphanage in Kathmandu for 30 years; and American entrepreneur James (J.D.) Russell, who also flew on Blue Origin’s NS-28 mission in November 2024.
Also on Wednesday, Blue Origin revealed the NS-34 mission patch, which features an element of each passenger’s life story. Here’s the company’s explanation, which you can find on its website:
- The globe symbolizes Arvi Bahal’s passion for travel, including visiting every country in the world, and the North and South Poles.
- The Bosphorus Strait symbolizes Gökhan Erdem’s Turkish heritage.
- The shape of Puerto Rico symbolizes Deborah Martorell’s home.
- Mt. Everest symbolizes Lionel Pitchford’s decades of work in Nepal.
- The book symbolizes J.D. Russell’s foundation, founded in honor of his deceased daughter, and dedicated to supporting children’s education and assisting first responder families.
- The banana symbolizes H.E. Justin Sun’s passion for conceptual art.
- The sun in the center symbolizes H.E. Justin Sun, Deborah Martorell’s meteorology background, and new adventures for the whole crew.
Each New Shepard mission lasts 10 to 12 minutes, from liftoff to the parachute-aided touchdown of the vehicle’s capsule. (New Shepard’s booster also comes back to Earth safely for refurbishment and reuse.)
Passengers experience a few minutes of weightlessness and get to see Earth against the blackness of space. We don’t know what this experience costs (except in rare cases like Sun’s); Blue Origin has not revealed its ticket prices.
NS-34 will be Blue Origin’s 14th crewed mission to date and its fifth such flight of 2025.
