American aerospace company Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, will conduct its 11th crewed flight of the suborbital spacecraft New Shepard this spring, according to a company press release. For the first time since Valentina Tereshkova's space flight in 1963, the crew will consist entirely of women, reports Interfax-Kazakhstan.
Among those participating in the NS-31 mission are singer Katy Perry and Lauren Sanchez, vice-chair of the Bezos Earth Fund.
The crew will ascend beyond the so-called Kármán line, which is considered the boundary of space, and spend several minutes in weightlessness. The flight will last a total of 11 minutes, after which New Shepard will return to the launch site in west Texas.
It was previously reported that Chinese rocket developers could catch up with American SpaceX by 2030 under an optimistic scenario, according to the CEO of one such company, Deep Blue Aerospace, Ho Liang. He stated that SpaceX significantly outpaces its competitors due to its success in achieving frequent and reliable landings of the first stage of reusable rockets.
Additionally, it has been revealed that the British engineering company Rolls-Royce has begun negotiations with potential commercial clients regarding the implementation of nuclear microreactors, which it also hopes to supply for use in space.