Wally Funk, one of 13 women recruited as potential astronauts for NASA’s 1960s Mercury program but sidelined due to gender, will fly as a guest of Blue Origin on the company’s first crewed flight.
Blue Origin and Dynetics filed separate protests on April 26 with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) over NASA’s $2.9 billion award to rival SpaceX for a human lunar landing system demonstration mission.
The Amazon executive overseeing the Kuiper satellite constellation and connectivity service has said that the internet business behemoth will look to multiple rocket launch providers for access to space, even though launch provider Blue Origin is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The combined 40-ft.-plus structure includes the Blue Origin lander and the Lockheed Martin ascent module that is expected to house NASA’s Artemis astronaut crews during their initial, weeklong lunar sorties.
