**Blue Origin Successfully Launches Six People on New Shepard Suborbital Mission**

Blue Origin completed another milestone with their New Shepard suborbital spaceflight, lifting six passengers into space on November 22nd. Departing from Launch Site One in West Texas, the New Shepard vehicle took off at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time and executed a flawless mission with no countdown delays.

The New Shepard capsule, known as R.S.S. First Step, marked its 11th flight during this mission. After liftoff, the capsule smoothly returned to Earth, parachuting down approximately 10 minutes later. This rapid descent occurred just two and a half minutes after the booster, which achieved its 12th landing, showcasing the vehicle's consistent performance.

Among the NS-28 crew of six were two familiar faces, Marc and Sharon Hagle. This husband-and-wife duo had previously flown aboard the New Shepard on the NS-20 mission in March 2022. The mission also included Emily Calandrelli, a notable science communicator and television host. Calandrelli shared on social media that she would be the 100th woman to travel to space, a notable achievement despite Blue Origin not highlighting this milestone in their broadcast.

This flight represented the ninth crewed mission for New Shepard and was the third one conducted this year. Impressively, it followed closely behind an uncrewed flight on October 23rd, known as NS-27. That previous mission deployed a new crew capsule and booster, which Blue Origin intends to use to expand their flight capacity and better meet the rising customer demand for suborbital flights.