A Firsthand Account of Suborbital Spaceflight - An Astronaut's Perspective

By Kenneth Hess on September 5, 2024 8:00 AM

Science Buddies' founder recounts Blue Origin NS-25 suborbital space flight and the wonder of seeing Earth—and the Sun—from space.

Photo: Launch of Blue Origin NS-25, May 19, 2024. © Kenneth Hess and Blue Origin

Our crew of six was quiet, each of us lost in our thoughts as we sat atop the rocket waiting for our flight to space. There's something sobering about sitting on top of something equivalent to 20 tons of TNT explosive.

Because the emergency escape system was armed, we were each in ascent position with hands gripping the armrest handles.

Suddenly, at ten minutes before launch, the capsule communicator (CapCom) interrupted our thoughts and piped in the audio from mission control as the flight director went around the room polling the engineers responsible for each major subsystem in what is known as the "go/no go poll" for launch:

Capsule: Go!
Booster: Go!
Ground: Go!
Safety: Go!
CapCom: Go!
Engineering: Go!
I have all "goes." New Shepard is go for launch!

We were going to space! There was a bit more chatter among the crew, but we still stayed mostly in our own thoughts until the final couple minutes before launch, when the pace of sounds from the booster and launch tower accelerated. Quickly, it was time!

"...five, four, three, two, one, engine ignition." The engine roared to life at 25% power, not enough to lift off, enabling the automated systems to verify that everything was well before committing to fly. Orange flames reflected onto the capsule ceiling. Then at seven seconds it was pedal to the metal, the engine quickly spooled up to 100% power, the noise level increased several notches, and we had liftoff.

Photo: Orange flames from the rocket engine reflect onto the crew capsule ceiling above me as the rocket lifts off.
© Kenneth Hess

This was by far the loudest portion of the flight, with the ground reflecting the engine noise back up to the crew capsule. As we gained altitude, the ground effect dissipated, and the noise level dropped until aerodynamic noise from our increasing velocity became a factor.

At approximately 21 seconds on the mission clock, the vehicle began a counterclockwise revolution, once every two minutes, allowing everyone on the flight to have a view in all directions. This rotation continued until re-entry.

The boost phase was much smoother than I expected, like riding in a glass elevator, just one that goes 2,200 miles per hour as I watch the earth recede below. For an instant we stop at a floor 107 kilometers up, well above the Karman line designating the beginning of outer space, before returning to the ground.

Unlike an elevator, a car, or anything else in my experience, a rocket traveling to space doesn't have a burst of acceleration, it's continuous, and it keeps getting stronger. Approximately 80% of the mass of our rocket was fuel. As the fuel burns off the rocket becomes lighter, enabling the acceleration to keep getting stronger, pushing me deeper and deeper into my seat.

Nonetheless, overlaid on this smooth, increasing acceleration, I can still feel the guidance system make small adjustments to direction and velocity, keeping the vehicle on target.

Photo: Weightless in space, I shoot a video of the Earth on my wrist-mounted GoPro (at Seat 1), while crewmate Sylvain (Seat 3) floats through the cabin. © Kenneth Hess and Blue Origin

After little more than two minutes, the booster engine shuts down and separates from the crew capsule. We coast upwards in free fall, weightless. I loosen my harness, float up to the top of the large window next to my seat, and flip my wrist-mounted GoPro camera towards the thin blue ring of atmosphere separating the Earth from space.

Earth as viewed from the capsule of Blue Origin NS-25

Photo: Looking north and a bit west from the launch location of Van Horn, TX, this photo shows White Sands National Park, NM, on the left and the Colorado Rocky Mountains top right, over 500 miles away. © Kenneth Hess

I wanted to see and photograph Earth in its natural environment of space, and it was as beautiful as expected. The surprise was the Sun. We live our lives seeing the Sun in the frame of reference of the Earth. The Sun rises over the trees or the mountains, illuminating stunning red clouds; we watch it slip below the ocean as it sets at the beach. Even at noon it's high in the bright blue sky. Always we see it from the Earth's frame of reference. In space, the Sun is just "there" in all its naked brilliance, and it was clear that the Earth and everything on it exists at the Sun's pleasure. I wanted to see the Earth in its native environment—what I saw was the solar system in its native environment.

Glare of Sun on the NS-25 capsule window when the capsule rotated

Photo: One third of the Sun's energy is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, so seeing its brilliance outside the frame of reference of the Earth was a surprise. The glare on the window when the Sun rotated into my field of view made it difficult for me to see anything else. © Kenneth Hess and Blue Origin

Space Science Projects

Students interested in space science can experiment with independent science and engineering projects about space exploration.

Science Buddies is working on a new series of space science projects that will be released in coming months.

Educators teaching about space science and the solar system can find lessons, activities, and classroom-friendly experiments in these STEM resource collections:

A Firsthand Account of Suborbital Spaceflight—From Pre-flight Training to Landing

This post is part of a series of posts about Ken's experience as an astronaut on Blue Origin's NS-25 suborbital spaceflight. This series breaks space flight into individual segments, including pre- and post-flight, and connects Ken's first-hand account with space science projects for students.