Blue Origin Starts 2026 with New Shepard NS-38 Spaceflight

[00:00:00] Blue Origin just kicked off 2026 with its first human space flight of the year. The New Shepard rocket successfully completed its 38th mission, sending six private astronauts beyond the edge of space. [00:00:13] The NS38 crew experienced several minutes of weightlessness before safely returning to Earth in West Texas. With this flight, New Shepard has now carried 98 humans into space, representing 92 individual passengers. Blue Origin says New Shepard isn't just about tourism. It's a testbed for reusable rockets, safety systems and operations that support the company's long term vision of millions of people living and working in space. [00:00:43] As commercial space flight becomes more routine, missions like NS38 show how access to space is steadily expanding beyond professional astronauts. [00:00:53] For more aerospace and spaceflight news, follow STM Daily News.