Blue Origin has successfully completed its 38th New Shepard flight and the first mission of 2026, sending six passengers on a suborbital journey above the internationally recognised boundary of space before returning safely to Earth, the company said on Thursday.
The mission, designated NS-38, lifted off from Blue Origin’s launch site in West Texas and landed roughly 10 minutes later. With the latest flight, the New Shepard program has now carried 98 people — representing 92 individuals — into space, the company said.
“We just completed our 38th flight of the New Shepard program and the first of 2026,” Blue Origin said in a statement. “New Shepard has now flown 98 humans (92 individuals) into space.”
The crew of NS-38 included Tim Drexler, a helicopter and airline pilot and former chief executive of Ace Asphalt; Linda Edwards, a retired board-certified obstetrician and gynaecologist and breast cancer survivor; Alain Fernandez, an international real estate developer; Alberto Gutiérrez, founder of travel platform Civitatis; Jim Hendren, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and former F-15 fighter pilot; and Laura Stiles, director of New Shepard Launch Operations and Training at Blue Origin.
“As we enter 2026, we’re focused on continuing to deliver transformational experiences for our customers through the proven capability and reliability of New Shepard,” said Phil Joyce, senior vice president of New Shepard. “We are grateful for our astronaut customers who put their trust in our team to bring this experience into reality.”
New Shepard, named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space, is a fully reusable, autonomous suborbital rocket system designed for human spaceflight from the outset. During the roughly 11-minute mission, passengers travel beyond the Kármán line at an altitude of 100 kilometres, experience several minutes of weightlessness and view Earth from space before descending under parachutes.
Blue Origin said NS-38 also carried more than 20,000 postcards to space as part of its nonprofit initiative, Club for the Future, which invites people around the world to share messages and aspirations for the future.
The previous New Shepard mission flew on Dec. 20, 2025, and the company said it plans to continue regular flights in 2026 as demand for suborbital space tourism remains strong.
