Blue Origin delays May 20 space tourist launch due to vehicle issue

Jeff Bezos space venture Blue Origin has delayed its fifth tourist flight to space, originally intended to fly on Friday.

The company in a statement said its NS-21 faced some vehicle issues.

"During our final vehicle check-outs, we observed one of New Shepard's back-up systems was not meeting our expectations for performance," the company said.

"In an abundance of caution, we will be delaying the NS-21 launch originally scheduled for Friday," it added.

The company has not announced the new target launch date.

NS-21 is expected to fly six customer astronauts. The crew includes investor and NS-19 Astronaut Evan Dick; electrical engineer and former NASA test lead Katya Echazarreta; business jet pilot and Action Aviation Chairman Hamish Harding; civil production engineer Victor Correa Hespanha; adventurer and Dream Variation Ventures co-founder Jaison Robinson; and explorer and co-founder of private equity firm Insight Equity Victor Vescovo, Commander, USN (Ret.).

Echazarreta will become the first Mexican-born woman and youngest American woman to fly to space, while Hespanha will be the second Brazilian to fly to space.

The typical 11-minute flight aims to carry the crew members far above the Karman line -- an internationally recognised boundary of space that lies 62 miles (100 km) above the Earth's surface.

The company conducted its fourth human flight to the edge of space with six people in March.

--IANS

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