Named after the first American to orbit Earth, the New Glenn rocket blasted off from Florida, soaring from the same pad used to launch NASA's Mariner and Pioneer spacecraft a half-century ago.
New Glenn, developed by the private space firm founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is on the pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and could launch on its maiden flight as early as Friday.
Ed Dwight, a former Air Force test pilot who was passed over to become an astronaut in the 1960s, described his flight aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard as "life changing."
Edward J. Dwight Jr. is set to be on the next Blue Origin rocket into space. The rare opportunity comes more than six decades after he was passed over to become a NASA astronaut.
Glen De Vries, co-founder of a tech company, took a 10-minute flight to the edge of space aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft with Shatner and two others. De Vries died in a crash on Thursday.
NASA's leaders say an overly aggressive timeline from the Trump administration and a legal fight over a contract are two reasons why it's altering plans for the Artemis lunar program.
By the end of the 2020s, Blue Origin says its planned Orbital Reef commercial space station will become "the premier mixed-use space station in low Earth orbit for commerce, research, and tourism."
Shatner, 90, became the oldest person to fly into space, according to Blue Origin. The company, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, launched its first human spaceflight in July.
New space companies are touting space tourism. But so far the final frontier has been the playground of the rich or famous, plus a few everyday folks who had a bit of luck.
At age 90, the Star Trek actor is poised to become the oldest person ever to visit space. "It's never too late to experience new things," Shatner said on Monday.
In April, NASA chose Elon Musk's SpaceX to receive a highly sought-after $2.9 billion contract. It would involve the first spacecraft to land humans on the moon since 1972.
