• Everyone who exceeds 50 miles by Dec. 31 will receive commercial astronaut wing even if they were just passengers
• Nobody after that will even if they pilot a ship
• Agency reverses earlier decision to award wings only to those essential to flight operations/success
• FAA says this is what was intended all along

WASHINGTON (FAA PR) – With the advent of the commercial space tourism era, starting in 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will now recognize individuals who reach space on its website instead of issuing Commercial Space Astronaut Wings. Any individual who is on an FAA-licensed or permitted launch and reaches 50 statute miles above the surface of the Earth will be listed on the site. 

Entrepreneur Glen de Vries, who rode to space with “Star Trek” actor William Shatner aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle on Oct. 13, was killed in the crash of a small plane in New Jersey on Thursday. Media reports say de Vries died in the crash of a single-engine Cessna 172 near a state park in Lake Kermah, Hampton Township. New Jersey aviation company owner Thomas Fischer also died in […]

DCVC funds the advancement of the NewSpace startup’s alternative global positioning service.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– TrustPoint, Inc., a startup with operations in Silicon Valley and Northern Virginia, announces that it has raised a $2M seed round from DCVC.

GPS is a ubiquitous global utility: knowing one’s location and accurate time is critical for government, commercial, and consumer applications. Still, today’s solutions are inaccurate, slow, unencrypted, and susceptible to jamming and spoofing. These shortcomings make heritage GPS and other government-owned and -operated systems insufficient for tomorrow’s safety-critical and high-precision commercial applications, such as drone delivery, self-driving cars, urban air mobility, and augmented reality.

KENT, Wash. (Blue Origin PR) — Due to forecasted winds on Tuesday, October 12, Blue Origin’s mission operations team has made the decision to delay the launch of NS-18 and is now targeting Wednesday, October 13. Liftoff from Launch Site One is currently targeted for 8:30 am CDT / 13:30 UTC on Wednesday.  As part of today’s Flight Readiness Review, the mission operations team confirmed the vehicle has  met all mission requirements and astronauts began their training today. Weather is […]

KENT, Wash. (Blue Origin PR) — Today, Blue Origin announced actor William Shatner and Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s Vice President of Mission & Flight Operations, will fly on board New Shepard NS-18. They will join crewmates Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries for the flight which lifts off from Launch Site One on October 12.  

KENT, Wash. (Blue Origin PR) — Today, Blue Origin announced New Shepard’s 18^th mission, NS-18, will lift off on Tuesday, October 12, carrying four astronauts to space and back, including Dr. Chris Boshuizen, a former NASA engineer and co-founder of Planet Labs, and Glen de Vries, Vice-Chair, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Dassault Systèmes and co-founder, Medidata. The two other astronauts will be announced in the coming days.

[Editor’s Note: TMZ.com reported Star Trek actor William Shatner will be aboard the upcoming flight. There’s been no confirmation of that report.]

Live launch coverage begins on BlueOrigin.com at T-60 minutes. Liftoff is currently targeted for 8:30 am CDT/ 13:30 UTC from Launch Site One in West Texas.