- Good morning, everyone.
My name is Ariane Cornell,
and behalf of everyone at Blue Origin,
I am thrilled to welcome you to First Human Flight.
This is our crew in their flight suits
with their First Human Flight mission patches.
Right in the center, of course, is our founder, Jeff Bezos.
Jeff will be seated in seat number six.
Jeff invited his brother, Mark Bezos,
to join him on the journey.
In seat number three in the capsule, Wally Funk,
Oliver Daemen occupying seat number one,
and here the astronauts come.
Four crew members are heading out to the launchpad.
There they go. See you, guys.
We see here that the astronauts
are starting to ascend the crew tower.
There's Wally wavin'.
(bell rings)
What a moment.
Jeff Bezos,
(bell rings) Mark Bezos,
(bell rings)
Wally Funk,
and Oliver Daemen.
And there they go, into the crew capsule.
- Good morning, astronauts,
and welcome aboard the RSS First Step.
- All right. And here we go, we are closing the hatch.
- This is the flight director.
New Shepherd is go for launch.
Booster, commence (indistinct)
- WILCO, flight.
- [Ariane] T-Minus 2 minutes. There we go.
- Bridge is retracting.
- [Ariane] The bridge is retracting.
- We are in auto sequence.
- [Director] T-Minus ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four, command engine start.
Two, One.
(loud rocket noise) Ignition.
We have liftoff.
New Shepard has cleared the tower.
- [Ariane] And New Shepard has cleared the tower,
on our way to space with our First Human crew.
Go Jeff, go Mark, go Wally, go Oliver,
you are going to space.
(rocket engine roars)
- [Director] 5,000 feet.
(rocket engine roars)
- [Ariane] Oh my goodness.
Listen to the roar of the BE3 engine,
we're just about to pass through max q,
maximum dynamic pressure.
That is when the stresses on the vehicle
are at their maximum.
- [Director] Max q.
- [Ariane] Max q is confirmed.
Beautiful burn on that BE3 engine.
Liquid hydrogen--
- [Director] 31,000 feet. Mach 1.
- [Ariane] And liquid oxygen as the propellant,
it's nice, not just clean
in terms of beautifully performing,
but what comes out of it, it's steam, right?
Woo! To see the...
glow of the engine underneath the rocket,
just under our shoulders,
and to know that we've got a crew that is going to space,
it just feels different.
Doesn't it Gary?
- [Gary] This is totally different.
- [Ariane] All right, you can follow along.
Of course, the speedometer in the bottom left,
the altimeter in the middle of the screen there.
So far appears to be a nominal flight.
All right, coming up here on MECO, main engine cutoff,
that will be followed shortly by separation,
and, at that point, after separation,
we're going to let the astronauts unbuckle
and take in the freedoms of zero G.
There is MECO, main engine cutoff,
a beautiful shot down the New Shepard rocket.
Look at that view.
Unreal.
Awaiting separation here.
And here we are. You can start to see.
Standby, you're going to see the separation of the capsule
from the booster itself.
- [Oliver] Woo! Oh, wow, wow, wow. (indistinct)
- [Mark] Don't forget to look out the window!
- [Oliver] Holy! Good God. Oh, wow.
- [Wally] Woo!
Woo-hoo!
(astronaut voices overlap and cutoff)
- [Ariane] And there we go,
our astronauts have passed the Karman line,
at about 328,000 feet.
Continuing their ascent.
You see the two vehicles there.
When the speed hit zero, you know that
they've hit half a G, their maximum altitude.
And you hear they're having quite an experience.
(astronauts celebrating)
(astronaut voices overlap)
(astronauts cheering)
- [Ground Control] One minute warning.
One minute warning.
- [Oliver] That was awesome!
- [Wally] You got one?
- [Mark] I got it.
(astronaut voices overlap)
- [Wally] Oh, Mark, Jeff.
Look at this. It's dark up here!
- [Oliver] Oh, wow.
- [Wally] 2000 miles an hour.
- [Jeff] Everybody in?
- [Ground Control] First Step, status check.
Astronaut Oliver.
- [Wally] Oh my word!
- [Jeff] Oliver, status check.
- [Oliver] Oh, sorry.
Ground Control, Oliver, status: perfect.
- [Ground Control] Copy. Astronaut Wally.
- [Jeff] Wally.
Ground Control, Wally is Gucci.
- [Ground Control] Copy. Astronaut Demo.
- [Mark] Astronaut Demo, everybody's (indistinct).
- [Ground Control] Copy, Astronaut Bezos.
(astronauts cheering)
- [Jeff] Well, that was intense!
Ground Control, Bezos. Everybody seems happy, happy, happy.
- [Ground Control] Copy.
- [Ariane] Thank you again, everybody, for joining us live
for our First Human Flight on New Shepard.
So far, nominal flight.
Our booster is about to return to its landing pad.
There we see engine relight.
The sonic boom!
And booster touchdown. Welcome back, New Shepherd.
A beautiful rocket that provided
a beautiful flight to space.
- [Ground Control] First step, your booster has landed.
- [Jeff] Booster landed and ready.
Ground Control, (indistinct).
- [Ariane] And there it is.
Our crew capsule with our four crew members on board.
- [Jeff] You have a very happy crew up here,
I want you to know.
(astronaut audio cuts off)
- [Mark] Oh yeah, I see blue.
- [Ground Control] Stand by, drogues.
Stand by, drogues.
Stand by me, stand by me.
- [Ariane] So far, a nominal flight.
Here comes the crew capsule back from space.
The drogues deployed.
Here, the main's out, reefing and coming to full inflation.
Our rocket went over Mach 3,
and now they're coming floating back down
at just about 15 or 16 miles an hour.
About to join us home, back here in west Texas.
After having gone over the carbon line,
the internationally recognized line of space,
the world's newest astronauts.
- Gary, how are you holding up, friend?
- [Gary] I... I am speechless.
- [Ariane] Wow.
And those big, beautiful windows.
- [Gary] They've just got about
a minute and a half of floating,
before the activation of the skirt jet
for a soft touchdown.
At this point,
there are sensors onboard that are detecting how high
they are above the ground, multiple sensors,
and just six feet above the ground,
that cushion of air will puff.
And they will have a soft touchdown,
almost like just sitting in a chair.
- But I'm sure their adrenaline is pumping now.
- [Ariane] And, touchdown.
Welcome back, New Shepherd, First Human crew.
- What a flight--
- [Ground Control] Welcome back to Earth, First Step.
Congratulations to all of you.
- [Ariane] What a day, what a day.
- [Jeff] Very happy group of people on this capsule.
We're so grateful to everybody who made this possible.
Thank you.
- [Oliver] Ground Control, Oliver,
thank you so much for everyone there.
It was amazing, it was amazing.
- [Ground Control] Copy, First Step.
You have a very happy CAPCOM here, as well.
Let's do a status check. Astronaut Oliver.
- [Oliver] Ground Control, Astronaut Oliver.
Status correct.
- [Ground Control] Copy. Astronaut Wally.
- [Wally] Wally, Okay.
- [Ground Control] Copy. Astronaut Demo.
- [Mark] Astronaut Demo.
I am... unbelievably good.
- [Ground Control] Copy. Astro-- (audio cuts off)
- [Jeff] Ground Control, this is Bezos.
Best day ever!
- [Wally] Yeah!
- [Ground Control] Copy everyone.
Go ahead and remain in your seats.
Crew member seven is on their way.
Shortly, you will hear the capsule off-gassing.
- It sounds like it landed
pretty much exactly where we predicted.
That's how they can get to it so quickly.
(cheering)