Five out of the six space tourists set to board the next Jeff Bezos Blue Origin flight have been named in an official release. The 11-minute experience, dubbed NS-30 as it will be the 30th time the company’s New Shepard has launched, is slated for 25 February 2025. It will mark the 10th time the Amazon tycoon’s service has carried visitors to the edge of space.
A range of backgrounds from physics to finance
We now know those people are Lane Bess, Jesús Calleja, Elaine Chia Hyde, Richard Scott and Tushar Shah. They come from a mix of backgrounds and professions, ranging from financiers and venture capitalists to a celebrity adventurer, a content creator, a professor and former assisted-fertility business founder.
Interesting points about the flyers include the fact that Lane Bess, a Florida-based venture capitalist, who has specialised in cybersecurity firms, will be making his second Blue Origin trip, having also made the first aboard the New Shepard in 2021. The other finance-based crew member is Tushar Shah, a former MIT particle physicist who is now a partner and researcher for a quantitative hedge fund.
After sexist trolling of Emily Calendrelli, a passenger on the last Blue Origin launch, the only woman announced so far among the next set of travellers is Elaine Chia Hyde. She will also be the first Australian woman and Singapore-born space tourist, fulfilling a dream she has had since the age of 10. As the founder of news and marketing company Chicago Star Media, which promises to “create impactful content,” her journey is bound to generate plenty of coverage for Blue Origin.
Media coverage amid thousands of lay offs
But possibly the best-known tourist will be Spain’s Jesús Calleja, a lifelong adrenaline junkie, who has climbed the world’s seven highest peaks, including Everest, as well as being a pilot, attempting the Paris-Dakar rally, and diving in caves, glacial and shark-infested waters. Resembling actor Owen Wilson, Calleja’s passion and telegenic appearance have enabled him to gain sponsorship and documentary coverage for his exploits, such as the TV series Extreme Challenge. His Blue Origin space tourism trip, arguably his shortest and easiest feat, has won him another three-year TV contract.
To all appearances, Blue Origin needs the press attention that passengers such as Hyde and Calleja can bring. The cost of a flight in the Bezos rocket capsule is unknown, but the company needs to increase the number of trips and rocket launches in order to fulfill around $10 billion-worth of contracts. CEO Dave Limp recently announced cost-cutting measures the firm is making, which include over 1000 staff redundancies, 10% of its workforce, in order to decrease bureaucracy and increase focus.
