Daughter of first American astronaut to launch on Blue Origin flight | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Monday
June 16, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2025
Daughter of first American astronaut to launch on Blue Origin flight

World+Biz

BSS/AFP
11 December, 2021, 03:15 pm
Last modified: 11 December, 2021, 03:24 pm

Related News

  • Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon
  • Bezos sees no threat from Musk-Trump ties in space race
  • New 'Superbug' detected on the International Space Station
  • Bezos' Blue Origin launches first crew to edge of space since 2022 grounding
  • Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin sets new launch attempt for Tuesday

Daughter of first American astronaut to launch on Blue Origin flight

The company's suborbital rocket is in fact named "New Shepard" in honor of the pioneering astronaut

BSS/AFP
11 December, 2021, 03:15 pm
Last modified: 11 December, 2021, 03:24 pm
Laura Shepard Churchley, 74, who was a schoolgirl when her father first streaked into space, is one of six individuals due for liftoff at 8:45 a.m. Central time (1445 GMT) from Blue Origin's launch site outside the rural west Texas town of Van Horn.(AFP)
Laura Shepard Churchley, 74, who was a schoolgirl when her father first streaked into space, is one of six individuals due for liftoff at 8:45 a.m. Central time (1445 GMT) from Blue Origin's launch site outside the rural west Texas town of Van Horn.(AFP)

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is set to blast its third private crew to space on Saturday, this time including the daughter of the first American astronaut.

The spaceflight will last roughly 11 minutes, launching from the company's base in Texas and soaring to just beyond the internationally-recognized boundary of space, 62 miles (100 kilometers) high.

The six-member crew will unbuckle and enjoy a few minutes' weightlessness before the spaceship returns to Earth for a gentle parachute landing in the desert.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

The launch date was pushed back because of high winds, but is now set for 8:45 am local time (1445 GMT) on Saturday.

Laura Shepard Churchley, whose father Alan Shepard became the first American to travel to space in 1961, will be flying as a guest of Blue Origin.

The company's suborbital rocket is in fact named "New Shepard" in honor of the pioneering astronaut.

Michael Strahan, an American football Hall of Famer turned TV personality, is also a guest, while there are four paying customers: space industry executive and philanthropist Dylan Taylor, investor Evan Dick, Bess Ventures founder Lane Bess, and Cameron Bess.

Lane and Cameron Bess will become the first parent-child pair to fly in space. Ticket prices have not been disclosed.

"It's kind of fun for me to say an original Shepard will fly on the New Shepard," Shepard Churchley, who runs a foundation that promotes science and raises funds for college students, said in a video. "I'm very proud of my father's legacy."

Alan Shepard performed a 15-minute suborbital space flight on May 5, 1961, just under a month after the Soviet Union's Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, orbiting the planet.

Shepard, who died in 1998, went on to be the fifth of twelve men to have set foot on the Moon.

Previous Blue Origin flights have flown the company's billionaire founder Bezos as well as Star Trek actor William Shatner to space.

Bezos, who made his fortune with Amazon envisages a future in which humanity disperses throughout the solar system, living and working in giant space colonies with artificial gravity.

This, he says, would leave Earth as a pristine tourism destination much like national parks today.

The year 2021 has been significant for the space tourism sector, with Virgin Galactic also flying its founder Richard Branson to the final frontier, and Elon Musk's SpaceX sending four private citizens on a three-day orbital mission for charity.

The industry's predicted growth means that, starting from next year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Friday it will stop awarding astronaut wings badges to commercial space travelers, though it will continue to recognize them on its website.

"The Astronaut Wings program, created in 2004, served its original purpose to bring additional attention to this exciting endeavor," said FAA Associate Administrator Wayne Monteith, in a statement.

Blue Origin / astronaut

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Missiles launched from Iran are intercepted as seen from Tel Aviv, Israel, 16 June 2025. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
    Iranian missiles hit Israel's Tel Aviv, Haifa
  • Infograph: TBS
    Ship congestion at Ctg port lingers as berthing time rises
  • An FBI poster shows images of 57-year-old Vance Luther, the primary suspect involved in the shooting deaths of senior Democratic state assemblywoman Melissa Hortman and her husband, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, released on June 14, 2025. FBI/Handout via REUTERS
    Suspect in custody after shooting Minnesota lawmakers while posing as officer: ABC News

MOST VIEWED

  • Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    Merger of 5 Islamic banks at final stage: BB governor
  • UCB launches Bangladesh's first microservices-based open API banking platform
    UCB launches Bangladesh's first microservices-based open API banking platform
  • Photo: Collected
    Pakistan rejects reports of missile supply to Iran
  • Non-performing loans surge by Tk74,570cr in Q1 as hidden rot exposed
    Non-performing loans surge by Tk74,570cr in Q1 as hidden rot exposed
  • Crore-taka bank accounts edge down by 719 in March quarter
    Crore-taka bank accounts edge down by 719 in March quarter
  • Nepal begins 38MW hydropower export to Bangladesh
    Nepal begins 38MW hydropower export to Bangladesh

Related News

  • Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon
  • Bezos sees no threat from Musk-Trump ties in space race
  • New 'Superbug' detected on the International Space Station
  • Bezos' Blue Origin launches first crew to edge of space since 2022 grounding
  • Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin sets new launch attempt for Tuesday

Features

Renowned authors Imdadul Haque Milon, Mohit Kamal, and poet–children’s writer Rashed Rouf seen at Current Book Centre, alongside the store's proprietor, Shahin. Photo: Collected

From ‘Screen and Culture’ to ‘Current Book House’: Chattogram’s oldest surviving bookstore

16h | Panorama
Photos: Collected

Kurtis that make a great office wear

2d | Mode
Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

4d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

5d | Features

More Videos from TBS

Netanyahu says Washington knew about Iran attack plans

Netanyahu says Washington knew about Iran attack plans

16m | TBS World
Macron to visit Greenland after Trump's annexation threat

Macron to visit Greenland after Trump's annexation threat

12h | TBS World
Important facilities including Natanz damaged in Israeli attack

Important facilities including Natanz damaged in Israeli attack

12h | Others
Iran's gas production from South Pars halted after Israeli attack

Iran's gas production from South Pars halted after Israeli attack

13h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net