Heba ElKady
Blue Origin announced on Saturday the launch date of its sixth human flight, NS-22, from its first launch site next Thursday, August 4.
Engineer Sarah Sabry will join the flight as the first Egyptian woman to fly to space alongside Kobe Cotton, co-founder of YouTube channel Dude Perfect, Portuguese businessman Mario Ferreira, British American mountaineer Vanessa O’Brien, and technology leader Clint Kelly III.
The launch window is scheduled to open at 3:30 pm Cairo time, and the webcast will start thirty minutes before the launch.
Additionally, Blue Origin released the NS-22 mission patch. The symbols embedded in the design include:
- The Pyramids of Egypt represent Sara Sabry’s heritage and celebrate her accomplishment as the country’s first astronaut.
- The Mariana Trench represents Vanessa O’Brien’s feat in reaching Challenger Deep, Earth’s deepest point.
- The crew capsule is depicted as a basketball, symbolizing Dude Perfect’s trick shots and Coby Cotton’s role in co-founding the company.
- Magellan’s ship represents Mário Ferreira’s Portuguese heritage and a lifelong passion for adventure.
- The fish swimming below Magellan’s ship symbolizes Steve Young’s passion for fishing.
- The stagecoach represents Clint Kelly III’s aspirations for humanity’s reach into the new frontier of space.
New Shepard’s booster and the West Texas mountains are also represented in the patch. In addition, each astronaut will carry a postcard to space in the name of the Blue Origin Foundation and the Future Club, whose “Postcards to Space” program aims to provide its students with access to space aboard Blue Origin rockets.
The club’s mission is to encourage future generations to study technology, engineering, and mathematics to benefit the planet. This mission is the New Shepard’s sixth human flight, the third for this year, and the 22nd in the program’s history.
Sarah’s seat is sponsored by Space for Humanity S4H, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide access to space for all of humanity.
