Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle will launch the NS-28 mission Friday, November 22, 2024 from Launch Site One in West Texas. Onboard are six people including Canadian Henry (Hank) Wolfond, CEO of Bayshore Capital in Toronto.

Blue Origin describes New Shepard as follows – “New Shepard is fully reusable, suborbital rocket system built for human flight from the beginning. During the 11-minute journey, astronauts soar past the Kármán line (100 km/62 miles), the internationally recognized boundary of space, experiencing several minutes of weightlessness and witnessing life-changing views of Earth. The vehicle is fully autonomous—there are no pilots.”

The launch window opens at 9:30 AM CST / 15:30 UTC and the event will be broadcast on the Blue Origin website starting 30 minutes before the launch window opens.

Two of the crew members, Sharon and Marc Hagle have previously flown on New Shepard on March 31, 2022, as part of the NS-20 crew.

Each crew member will receive the “FAA Commercial Human Space Flight Recognition” upon completion of the flight. To qualify for the recognition the FAA says crew members must be in a vehicle that flies “50 statute miles above the surface of the Earth on an FAA-licensed or permitted launch or reentry.”

The New Shepard NS-28 crew includes:

• Canadian Henry (Hank) Wolfond – Henry is Chairman and CEO of Bayshore Capital in Toronto, Canada. A lifelong aviator, Henry holds an Airline Transport Pilots license for fixed wing aircraft and a Commercial Pilots License for Helicopters. He moonlights as a professional pilot on charter, medevac, and organ retrieval flights. Henry is the Chair of the Confronting Antisemitism Committee of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and currently serves on the boards of the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC), the Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation (UHN Foundation), and on the Board of Governors for Hillel Ontario. Henry is also a co-founder of the Autism Acceptance Project

• Emily Calandrelli – Emily is an MIT engineer, Emmy-nominated TV host, and #1 NYTimes best-selling author known as @TheSpaceGal to her nearly three million followers. With the premiere of Xploration Outer Space (2014-present), she became the first American woman to be the sole host of a nationally broadcast science series. Through her activism, she helped write a bill to improve the TSA’s treatment of breastfeeding mothers and started a campaign which improved parental leave in the aerospace industry. Host of Netflix’s Emily’s Wonder Lab, Emily’s Science Lab on YouTube, and author of nine books, Emily works to inspire young people, particularly little girls, to see themselves in STEM.

• Sharon Hagle – Sharon is the founder of SpaceKids Global, a nonprofit she created in 2015 whose mission is to inspire elementary students to excel in STEAM education, ensuring girls are equally represented. SpaceKids hosts several annual challenges designed to inspire kids to pursue careers in the space industry, including national essay competitions, sending science projects to the International Space Station, and a partnership with Girl Scouts. SpaceKids also participates in Club for the Future’s Postcards to Space program. To date, Sharon has reached over 867,000 students globally. Sharon and her husband, Marc, first flew to space on NS-20 on March 31, 2022, becoming the first married couple to launch on a commercial space vehicle.

• Marc Hagle – Marc is president and CEO of Tricor International, a residential and commercial property development corporation. Under his direction, the company has developed and owned more than 17 million square feet of properties across the United States, including shopping centers, warehouses, medical facilities, recreational facilities, drug stores, and office projects. Marc and his wife, Sharon, are avid philanthropists for numerous arts, sciences, health, and education-related charities. Marc first flew to space on NS-20 on March 31, 2022. 

• Austin Litteral – Austin works as a risk management professional in the financial services industry. He’s a husband and a father of two daughters. Austin spends his free time hiking in state parks with his family and cheering for the local sports teams. This trip will fulfill a childhood dream of becoming an astronaut, having grown up with photos of NASA shuttle launches in his bedroom. Austin’s seat is sponsored by Whatnot, the largest livestream shopping platform in North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Austin won his seat as part of the Whatnot to the Moon giveaway.

• James (J.D.) Russell – J.D. is a serial entrepreneur and founder of InfoHOA, a leader in technology-based community management solutions. He was born into a military family at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, AZ, and earned the Billy Mitchell Award in the Civil Air Patrol. Before starting his entrepreneur career, J.D. served as a federal law enforcement Marine, Fish, and Wildlife Game Warden. He founded the Victoria Russell Foundation to honor the memory of his deceased daughter. The foundation is dedicated to supporting children’s education and assistance to families of first responders, and is a proud partner with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to bring the love of reading to children by gifting books free of charge to children.