Blue Origin rocket launch: How to watch upcoming human spaceflight from Florida
Floridians awaiting the sight of the next test flight of Blue Origin's massive New Glenn spacecraft can entertain themselves in the meantime with another launch from Jeff Bezos' company.
But unlike the 320-foot New Glenn, which launches from Cape Canaveral, this spaceflight will be one spectators in Florida will have watch online.
Blue Origin is preparing to send its next group of passengers on a brief spaceflight high above Earth from its launch facility in West Texas.
Reaching the very edge of space, the six people on board the company's smaller New Shepard spacecraft will be treated to some stellar views and a few minutes of weightlessness. When they land, the Blue Origin space tourists will join an exclusive club of more than 60 others who have embarked on a similar expensive venture across 12 previous spaceflights.
Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Bezos, will provide a livestream for the launch and spaceflight that you can watch from the comfort of your own home.
What is Blue Origin?
Jeff Bezos with fiancé Lauren Sanchez on March 2, 2025 at the Vanity Fair Oscars party after the Academy Awards.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos, best known for founding Amazon, is the founder of the private space technology company Blue Origin.
Bezos himself even boarded Blue Origin's New Shepard for its maiden crewed voyage in July 2021, which came after the spacecraft flew on 15 flight tests beginning in 2012. For nearly four years since its first crewed mission, the New Shepard spacecraft has served as a powerful symbol of Blue Origin's commercial spaceflight ambitions amid a growing space tourism industry.
In addition to sending space tourists on brief joy rides to the edge of space, including pop star Katy Perry and CBS News host Gayle King, Blue Origin has also increasingly sought to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Blue Origin's massive New Glenn rocket, which flew on its inaugural flight test in January 2025 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, is also being developed for future spaceflights. At 320 feet tall, the spacecraft rivals SpaceX's 400-foot Starship in size.
When is the next Blue Origin launch?
Blue Origin's next crewed launch, known as NS-33 or New Shepard-33, could get off the ground as early as 9:30 a.m. ET (8:30 a.m. local time) Saturday, June 21, the company announced.
Where are Blue Origin rocket launches?
Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launches take place from the company's private ranch facility known as Launch Site One. The facility is located 30 miles north of the town of Van Horn in Culberson County near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The entrance to Blue Origin's Launch Site One is photographed ahead of the April 14 mission NS-31 north of Van Horn, Texas.
How to watch the Blue Origin New Shepard take off
Who is going on the New Shepard? What to know about NS-33
- Allie Kuehner, an environmentalist who serves on the board of Nature is Nonpartisan, a nonprofit organization advocating for bipartisan solutions to environmental issues
- Carl Kuehner, who chairs Building and Land Technology, a real estate development, investment and property management firm
- Leland Larson, a philanthropist and former CEO of School Bus Services and Larson Transportation Services – both family-owned public transportation businesses based in Oregon
- Freddie Rescigno, Jr., CEO of Commodity Cables, an electrical company he founded in 2001
- Owolabi Salis, an attorney and a financial consultant
- Jim Sitkin, a retired lawyer from California
What happens during a New Shepard rocket launch?
Blue Origin's New Shepard crew capsule returns to Earth April 14 following a launch from Launch Site One in Van Horn, Texas. Blue Origin's Mission NS-31 carried Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyn, Kerianne Flynn, Gayle King, Katy Perry, and Lauren Sanchez, is the first all-female astronaut crew since 1963.
Named after astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, the 60-foot-tall New Shepard rocket is topped with the gum drop-shaped crew capsule. The spacecraft operates completely autonomously, meaning no pilots are aboard.
During its ascent, the spacecraft reaches supersonic speeds surpassing 2,000 mph before the rocket booster separates from the crew capsule. At that point, those aboard the capsule become weightless as the spacecraft continues toward its highest point on its brief voyage above the Kármán Line – the 62-mile-high internationally recognized boundary of space.
While experiencing a few minutes of microgravity, passengers have the opportunity to unstrap themselves from their seats to gaze out the capsule’s large windows and take in a stunning view of Earth.
Meanwhile, the rocket booster heads back to the ground while firing its engines and using its fins to slow and control its descent to land vertical about two miles from the launchpad.
The capsule itself eventually begins what Blue Origin refers to as a "stable freefall” – plummeting back to Earth as three massive parachutes deploy and the capsule makes a soft landing in the desert, sending up plumes of dust.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]
