Blue Origin plans to launch New Shepard mission NS-37 on Thursday, Dec. 18, at 9:30 a.m. ET from Launch Site One in West Texas. Joey Hyde, a physicist and investor from near Miami, is one of six passengers on the roughly 11-minute suborbital flight that will cross the 62-mile Kármán Line and provide several minutes of weightlessness and panoramic Earth views. The crew includes industry veterans and Michaela Benthaus, who uses a wheelchair and could become the first wheelchair user to fly with Blue Origin.
Blue Origin Sets NS-37 Launch for Dec. 18 — Florida Resident Joey Hyde Among Six Onboard
Blue Origin's "barn" is where rocket boosters merge with the capsules that will take passengers into space.
Blue Origin is preparing to launch mission NS-37 on Thursday, Dec. 18, targeting a 9:30 a.m. ET liftoff from its private Launch Site One in West Texas. The short, tourist-style suborbital flight aboard the reusable New Shepard vehicle will carry six passengers to the edge of space, offering several minutes of weightlessness and panoramic views above the internationally recognized Kármán Line (about 62 miles / 100 km).
Flight Details
NS-37 will be the 37th overall New Shepard flight and the vehicle's 16th human spaceflight. A typical New Shepard mission lasts roughly 11 minutes from liftoff to capsule touchdown. After the booster and capsule separate at high altitude, the crew capsule will coast above the Kármán Line while passengers experience microgravity and look out large windows. The booster will perform a powered, controlled vertical landing about two miles from the pad, and the crew capsule will return under three large parachutes for a soft desert touchdown.
A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket lifts off with a crew of six on Dec. 11, 2021.
The Crew
Among the six passengers is Joey Hyde, a physicist and investor who lives near Miami with his wife and five children. Hyde, a former hedge fund leader, says the trip continues a lifelong fascination with space sparked by watching the 1988 Space Shuttle Atlantis launch.
The full NS-37 crew includes:
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.
- Joey Hyde — Physicist and investor from near Miami.
- Michaela (Michi) Benthaus — Aerospace engineer at the European Space Agency who uses a wheelchair after a 2018 mountain-biking accident; she could become the first wheelchair user to fly with Blue Origin.
- Hans Koenigsmann — German‑American aerospace engineer and long-time SpaceX executive.
- Neal Milch — Business executive and chair of the board at The Jackson Laboratory, a nonprofit biomedical research institute.
- Adonis Pouroulis — Entrepreneur and investor in natural resources and energy.
- Jason Stansell — West Texas adventurer and rocketry enthusiast.
How New Shepard Works
New Shepard is a fully reusable suborbital system: a roughly 60-foot booster topped with an autonomously piloted, gumdrop-shaped crew capsule. During ascent the booster exceeds supersonic speeds (more than 2,000 mph) before separating near peak altitude. The capsule provides a few minutes of microgravity and broad Earth views through large windows; then it descends under parachutes for a soft landing while the booster returns for a vertical touchdown.
Context: New Glenn and Blue Origin
Blue Origin also develops New Glenn, a much larger 322-foot orbital rocket intended to compete in the orbital-launch market. New Glenn launched orbital missions in 2025 from Florida, most recently a Nov. 13 mission that propelled twin NASA ESCAPADE spacecraft toward Mars. Blue Origin was founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000 and is headquartered in Washington state, while New Shepard flights operate from West Texas.
Contributing: Jennifer Sangalang, USA TODAY Network - Florida
This article was adapted from reporting that originally appeared in Florida Today.
