Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin makes 5th space tourism flight

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - The fifth human commercial flight of Jeff Bezos’ space tourism company, Blue Origin, made a successful launch on Saturday in the West Texas desert.

The action started at 9:25 a.m. EDT (1325 GMT), when Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle lifted off from Launch Site One, the company's facility in West Texas, according to Space.com.

The New Shepard spacecraft, named after the eldest daughter of pioneering astronaut Alan Shepard, blasted off from Blue Origin’s US headquarters located near Van Horn.

Blue Origin sent six people, including engineer Katya Echazarreta, who at 26 became the youngest American woman in space and she also became the first Mexican-born woman to go into space.

The other five people were Evan Dick, Hamish Harding, Victor Correa Hespanha, Jaison Robinson, and Victor Vescovo.

"It was an honor to fly this special crew of explorers and true pioneers today," Phil Joyce, senior vice president of the Blue Origin, said in a statement released by the space tourism company.