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How to Watch Blue Origin's Latest Crewed Launch Saturday

The New Shepard rocket will send six people out of this world to start the weekend.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about energy, renewables, science and climate to bring educational content to life on topics around the solar panel and deregulated energy industries. Eric helps consumers by demystifying solar, battery, renewable energy, energy choice concepts, and also reviews solar installers. Previously, Eric covered space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His encrypted email for tips is ericcmack@protonmail.com.
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Eric Mack
2 min read
Blue Origin New Shepard rocket in flight, with a fiery exhaust

New Shepard in flight.

 Blue Origin

Blue Origin, the rocket company started by billionaire Jeff Bezos, will be sending another crewed mission to the edge of space Saturday morning. Unlike past flights of the New Shepard rocket, this one won't be highlighted by any celebrity astronauts, but it will feature the first person to fly on a Blue Origin flight for the second time.

Investor, engineer and pilot Evan Dick also flew on the NS-19 mission in December. 

This time he'll be joined by business jet pilot Hamish Harding; civil production engineer Victor Correa Hespanha; adventurer and investor Jaison Robinson; explorer, investor and retired US Navy Commander Victor Vescovo; and former NASA engineer Katya Echazarreta, who also co-hosts a science show for Netflix. 

Echazarreta will be the first Mexican-born woman and youngest American woman to visit space, and her flight is paid for by Space for Humanity's sponsored Citizen Astronaut Program. 

Overall this will be the fifth human flight for New Shepard and Blue Origin. The whole adventure lasts less than 15 minutes as the rocket blasts off from the company's west Texas launch site for a quick to trip to the edge of space and return via parachute-assisted landing. 

A few minutes into the flight, the crew capsule separates from the booster and continues on past the Karman line (the internationally accepted boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space) for a few minutes of weightlessness and a big view. Meanwhile, the booster comes in for an autonomous landing as the astronauts get ready to reenter the atmosphere and eventually drift back to the desert floor. 

The mission was originally scheduled for May 20 but was delayed because "one of New Shepard's back-up systems was not meeting our expectations for performance," according to a company statement.

A live webcast of the mission begins at 5 a.m. PT Saturday, with launch happening as early as 6 a.m. PT. You can follow along below: