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Daughter of Pioneering Astronaut Alan Shepard Set for Blue Origin Spaceflight

The Launch Site One sign is shown after Blue Origin delayed, for weather, its next New Shepard astro-tourism flight with an all-civilian crew of six, including two non-paying guests of honor, "Good Morning America" co-anchor and former NFL star Michael Strahan, and Laura Shepard Churchley, the eldest daughter of pioneering astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space for whom the New Shepard spacecraft is named from Launch Site One in West Texas, Texas, US, December 8, 2021. (Reuters)
The Launch Site One sign is shown after Blue Origin delayed, for weather, its next New Shepard astro-tourism flight with an all-civilian crew of six, including two non-paying guests of honor, "Good Morning America" co-anchor and former NFL star Michael Strahan, and Laura Shepard Churchley, the eldest daughter of pioneering astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space for whom the New Shepard spacecraft is named from Launch Site One in West Texas, Texas, US, December 8, 2021. (Reuters)
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Daughter of Pioneering Astronaut Alan Shepard Set for Blue Origin Spaceflight

The Launch Site One sign is shown after Blue Origin delayed, for weather, its next New Shepard astro-tourism flight with an all-civilian crew of six, including two non-paying guests of honor, "Good Morning America" co-anchor and former NFL star Michael Strahan, and Laura Shepard Churchley, the eldest daughter of pioneering astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space for whom the New Shepard spacecraft is named from Launch Site One in West Texas, Texas, US, December 8, 2021. (Reuters)
The Launch Site One sign is shown after Blue Origin delayed, for weather, its next New Shepard astro-tourism flight with an all-civilian crew of six, including two non-paying guests of honor, "Good Morning America" co-anchor and former NFL star Michael Strahan, and Laura Shepard Churchley, the eldest daughter of pioneering astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space for whom the New Shepard spacecraft is named from Launch Site One in West Texas, Texas, US, December 8, 2021. (Reuters)

The eldest daughter of pioneering US astronaut Alan Shepard is set for a ride to the edge of space aboard Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin commercial rocketship on Saturday, 60 years after her late father's famed suborbital NASA flight at the dawn of the Space Age.

Laura Shepard Churchley, 74, who was a schoolgirl when her father first streaked into space, is one of six individuals due for liftoff at 8:45 a.m. Central time (1445 GMT) from Blue Origin's launch site outside the rural west Texas town of Van Horn.

They will be flying aboard the crew capsule of a fully autonomous, six-story-tall spacecraft dubbed New Shepard, designed to soar to an altitude of about 350,000 feet (106 km) before falling back to Earth for a parachute landing on the desert floor.

The entire flight, from liftoff to touchdown, is expected to last a little over 10 minutes, with the crew experiencing a few minutes of weightlessness at the very apex of the suborbital flight.

The spacecraft itself is named for Alan Shepard, who in 1961 made history as the second person, and the first American, to travel into space - a 15-minute suborbital flight as one of NASA's original 'Mercury Seven' astronauts.

A decade later, Shepard walked on the moon as commander of the Apollo 14 mission, famously hitting two golf galls on the lunar surface.

Churchley is one of two honorary, non-paying guest passengers chosen by Blue Origin for Saturday's flight. The other is Michael Strahan, 50, a retired National Football League star and co-anchor of ABC television's "Good Morning America" show.

They are joined by four lesser-known, wealthy customers who paid undisclosed but presumably hefty sums for their New Shepard seats - space industry executive Dylan Taylor, engineer-investor Evan Dick, venture capitalist Lane Bess and his 23-year-old son, Cameron Bess. The Besses are set to make history as the first parent-child pair to fly in space together, according to Blue Origin.

Saturday's flight is expected to reach a maximum height of about 65 miles - just above the internationally recognized boundary of space, the Karman Line, which is roughly 62 miles above Earth.

The launch marks the third space tourism flight for Blue Origin, the company Bezos - founder and executive chairman of retail giant Amazon.com - formed two decades ago, and the company's first with a crew of six passengers.

Bezos himself tagged along on Blue Origin's inaugural flight in July, joining his brother, Mark Bezos, trailblazing octogenarian female aviator Wally Funk, and 18-year-old Oliver Daeman, a Dutch high school graduate and beneficiary of a $28 million auction sweepstake.

Actor William Shatner, who embodied the promise of space travel in his role as Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise on the 1960s TV series "Star Trek," joined the second New Shepard crew in October to become the oldest person in space at age 90.

British billionaire Richard Branson beat Bezos to the punch by nine days when he rode along on the first fully crewed voyage of his own space tourism venture Virgin Galactic Holding Inc, soaring to the edge of space over New Mexico in a rocket plane released at high altitude from a carrier jet.

A third player in the burgeoning space tourism sector, fellow billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, inaugurated his SpaceX citizen-astronaut service in September with the launch of the first all-civilian crew ever to reach Earth orbit.

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Artemis Astronauts to Study the Moon’s Surface Using Mainly Their Eyes

This photo provided by NASA shows the moon seen from a window on the Orion spacecraft Integrity during the Artemis II mission on Friday, April 3, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This photo provided by NASA shows the moon seen from a window on the Orion spacecraft Integrity during the Artemis II mission on Friday, April 3, 2026. (NASA via AP)
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Artemis Astronauts to Study the Moon’s Surface Using Mainly Their Eyes

This photo provided by NASA shows the moon seen from a window on the Orion spacecraft Integrity during the Artemis II mission on Friday, April 3, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This photo provided by NASA shows the moon seen from a window on the Orion spacecraft Integrity during the Artemis II mission on Friday, April 3, 2026. (NASA via AP)

More than 50 years after humans first flew around the Moon, Artemis astronauts will repeat the feat on Monday and use the most basic instrument to study it: their eyes.

Despite the technological advancements since the Apollo missions, NASA still relies on the eyesight of its astronauts to learn more about the Moon.

"The human eye is basically the best camera that could ever or will ever exist," Kelsey Young, the lead scientist for the Artemis 2 mission, told AFP.

"The number of receptors in the human eye far outweighs what a camera is able to do."

Although modern cameras may be superior to human eyesight in some respects, "the human eye is really good at color, and it's really good at context, and it's also really good at photometric observations," Young said.

Humans can understand how lighting changes surface details, like how angled lighting reveals texture but reduces visible color.

In just the blink of an eye, humans can detect a subtle color shift and understand how lighting changes the contours of a landscape like the Moon's surface, details which are scientifically useful but difficult to ascertain from photos or videos.

Artemis 2 astronaut Victor Glover, who pilots the Orion spacecraft, said before liftoff this week that eyes were a "magical instrument."

- Field scientists -

To ensure they made the most of their proximity to the Moon, the four Artemis 2 crew members underwent more than two years of training.

Young said the goal was to turn the astronauts into "field scientists" via a combination of classroom lessons, geological expeditions to Iceland and Canada, and multiple simulated flybys of the Moon, just like the mission they are on.

The three American astronauts -- commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch -- along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, all had to memorize the Moon's "Big 15," or the 15 features of the Moon that will allow them to orient themselves.

Using an inflatable Moon globe, they practiced seeing how the angle of the sun changed the colors and textures of the lunar surface, honing their observation and note-taking skills for the big moment.

"I can tell you, they are excited and they are ready," Young said with a smile.

- 'About the size of a basketball' -

The Artemis astronauts' mission is to study certain lunar sites and phenomena as part of 10 objectives chosen by NASA and ranked in priority order based on scientific interest.

During the Moon flyby, which will last for several hours, the crew will have to observe the celestial body with their naked eyes, along with cameras they have on board.

Noah Petro, head of NASA's planetary geology lab, told AFP that the Moon will look to the astronauts "about the size of a basketball held at arm's length."

"The question I'm most interested in is, are they going to be able to see color on the lunar surface," Petro said.

"I don't mean rainbow colors, but you know, dark browns or tan colors because that tells us something about the composition, and that tells us something about the history of the Moon."

David Kring of the Lunar and Planetary Institute told AFP he is not expecting any earth-shattering discoveries because of the multiple lunar probes and high-resolution images of the Moon taken since the Apollo missions.

Nevertheless, "having astronauts describing what they're seeing... That is an occurrence that at least two generations of people on Earth have never heard before," he said.

The Artemis 2 flyby will be broadcast live by NASA, save for a period for when the spacecraft is behind the moon.

"Just listening to their practice descriptions in the mission simulations... It brings chills up my arms," Young said.

"I am absolutely confident that these four people are going to deliver some incredible descriptions."

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Artemis Astronauts More than Halfway to Moon, Putting Earth in Rearview

This screengrab from a NASA live broadcast video shows (L-R) NASA astronaut and Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch, NASA astronaut and Artemis II pilot Victor Glover, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Artemis II Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman during a press call as they travel to the Moon in the Orion spacecraft, on April 3, 2026. (Photo by NASA / AFP)
This screengrab from a NASA live broadcast video shows (L-R) NASA astronaut and Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch, NASA astronaut and Artemis II pilot Victor Glover, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Artemis II Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman during a press call as they travel to the Moon in the Orion spacecraft, on April 3, 2026. (Photo by NASA / AFP)
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Artemis Astronauts More than Halfway to Moon, Putting Earth in Rearview

This screengrab from a NASA live broadcast video shows (L-R) NASA astronaut and Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch, NASA astronaut and Artemis II pilot Victor Glover, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Artemis II Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman during a press call as they travel to the Moon in the Orion spacecraft, on April 3, 2026. (Photo by NASA / AFP)
This screengrab from a NASA live broadcast video shows (L-R) NASA astronaut and Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch, NASA astronaut and Artemis II pilot Victor Glover, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Artemis II Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman during a press call as they travel to the Moon in the Orion spacecraft, on April 3, 2026. (Photo by NASA / AFP)

The Artemis 2 astronauts have passed the halfway point between Earth and the Moon on Saturday as they sped toward a planned lunar flyby, with NASA releasing initial images of Earth taken from inside the Orion spacecraft.

Astronaut Christina Koch said the crew had a collective "expression of joy" upon being told of the milestone, which was hit around two days, five hours and 24 minutes after the spacecraft blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, AFP said.

"We can see the Moon out of the docking hatch right now, it is a beautiful sight," Koch said around 11 pm (0400 GMT) Friday, according to the space agency's official live broadcast.

NASA's online dashboard showed early Saturday that the Orion spacecraft carrying the astronauts was more than 229,000 kilometers (142,000 miles) from Earth.

The space agency earlier released images from Orion that included a full portrait of Earth, featuring its deep blue oceans and billowing clouds.

After a flurry of high-stakes activity including a dramatic blast-off and an engine firing that catapulted them on their historic trajectory to circle the Moon, the four astronauts aboard were able to catch their breath, even as they continued to perform a variety of equipment checks and tests.

"There has been a tremendous amount of disbelief for me, it's just so extraordinary," said Canadian Jeremy Hansen during a Q&A session with press late Thursday.

"I really like it up here," said Hansen, on his first ever journey to space. "The views are extraordinary."

"It's really fun to be floating around" in zero gravity, he added. "It just makes me feel like a little kid."

Hansen is on the crew with Americans Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman.

They are due to loop around the Moon early next week -- a feat not accomplished in more than 50 years.

NASA official Lakiesha Hawkins praised the photographs taken by commander Wiseman, calling them "amazing" during a briefing Friday.

"We continue to learn all about our spacecraft as we operate it in deep space with crew for the first time," Hawkins said.

"It's important to remind ourselves of that as we learn a little bit more day by day."

- 'Great spirits' -

Friday's to-do list includes a CPR demonstration and medical kit checks, the US space agency said, as well as preparation for the scientific observations they'll need to document when they are closest to the Moon on day six of their journey.

NASA officials reported Friday that all systems were performing well, and that the astronauts were in "great spirits" and had spoken to their families.

The next major milestone of the approximately 10-day journey is expected overnight Sunday into Monday, at which point the astronauts will enter the "lunar sphere of influence" -- when the Moon's gravity will have stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth's.

If all proceeds smoothly, as Orion whips around the Moon the astronauts could set a record by venturing farther from Earth than any human before.

"There is nothing normal about this," said mission commander Wiseman late Thursday.

"Sending four humans 250,000 miles away is a Herculean effort, and we are now just realizing the gravity of that."

The Artemis 2 mission is part of a longer-term plan to repeatedly return to the Moon, with the goal of establishing a permanent lunar base that will offer a platform for further exploration.

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'Breathtaking': Artemis Astronauts Blast towards Moon

This image taken from video provided by NASA shows the Earth, left, from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it fired its engines heading toward the moon Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This image taken from video provided by NASA shows the Earth, left, from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it fired its engines heading toward the moon Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)
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'Breathtaking': Artemis Astronauts Blast towards Moon

This image taken from video provided by NASA shows the Earth, left, from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it fired its engines heading toward the moon Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)
This image taken from video provided by NASA shows the Earth, left, from NASA's Orion spacecraft as it fired its engines heading toward the moon Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)

Four Artemis astronauts were zooming towards the Moon late Thursday after a major engine firing, a milestone that commits NASA to the first crewed lunar flyby in more than half a century.

With enough thrust to accelerate a stationary car to highway driving speed in less than three seconds, the Orion capsule engine blasted the astronauts on their trajectory towards the Moon, which they now will loop as part of the 10-day Artemis 2 mission, reported AFP.

In the moments that followed what the US space agency dubbed a "flawless" firing that lasted just under six minutes, astronaut Jeremy Hansen said that "humanity has once again shown what we are capable of."

The astronauts said they were "glued to the window" taking pictures, and later passed a floating microphone back and forth as they took questions from US television networks.

They said the spacecraft was a little chilly and they were still making it a home, but the crew was all smiles.

"There's nothing that prepares you for the breathtaking aspect of seeing your home planet both lit up bright as day, and also the Moon glow on it at night with the beautiful beam of the sunset," said Christina Koch.

Thursday's nudge came one day after the enormous orange-and-white Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion capsule launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the long-anticipated journey around the Moon.

The astronauts are now on a "free-return" trajectory, which uses the Moon's gravity to slingshot around it before heading back towards Earth without propulsion.

"From this point forward, the laws of orbital mechanics are going to carry our crew to the Moon, around the far side and back to Earth," NASA official Lori Glaze said.

The astronauts are wearing suits that also serve as "survival systems" -- in the unlikely case of a cabin depressurization or leak, they'll maintain oxygen, temperature controls and the correct pressure for up to six days.

The astronauts -- Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Koch along with Canadian Hansen -- spent their first hours in space performing checks and troubleshooting minor problems on the spacecraft that has never carried humans before, including a communications issue and a malfunctioning toilet.

Queried on the toilet situation, Koch said she was "proud to call myself the space plumber.

"I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board," she said. "So we were all breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just fine."

- 'Herculean' -

Crewmembers also had their first workouts of the mission on the spacecraft's "flywheel exercise device" -- each astronaut will carve out 30 minutes a day for fitness, a bid to minimize the muscle and bone loss that happens without gravity.

The 10-day mission is aimed at paving the way for a Moon landing in 2028.

Artemis 2 marks a series of historic accomplishments: sending the first person of color, the first woman and the first non-American on a lunar mission.

If all proceeds smoothly, the astronauts could also set a record by venturing farther from Earth than any human before.

"There is nothing normal about this," said Wiseman. "Sending four humans 250,000 miles away is a Herculean effort, and we are now just realizing the gravity of that."

The Artemis 2 mission is part of a longer-term plan to repeatedly return to the Moon, with the goal of establishing a permanent base that will offer a platform for further exploration.

The current era of American lunar investment has frequently been portrayed as an effort to compete with China, which aims to land humans on the Moon by 2030.

Asked about division closer to home and what message they had for Americans, Glover said from his vantage point, "You look amazing. You look beautiful."

"From up here, you also look like one thing," he added. "We're all one people."