Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifted off from the company’s West Texas site at 12:43 UTC on 3 Aug., carrying six passengers on a brief suborbital flight designated NS-34. The crew capsule crossed the Kármán line—about 100 kilometres above Earth—before returning safely under parachutes, while the booster executed a powered landing. The mission marked the 14th human spaceflight for New Shepard and the third crewed launch in a little over two months for Jeff Bezos’s space-tourism venture. The highest-profile passenger was Justin Sun, the 34-year-old billionaire who founded the Tron blockchain platform. Sun paid US$28 million at a 2021 auction for a seat on New Shepard’s inaugural crewed flight but deferred the trip because of a scheduling conflict. Joining him were real-estate investor Arvinder Singh Bahal, Turkish entrepreneur and photographer Gökhan Erdem, Puerto Rican meteorologist Deborah Martorell, British humanitarian Lionel Pitchford, and American entrepreneur James (J.D.) Russell, who previously flew on New Shepard’s NS-28 mission in November 2024. Each New Shepard flight lasts roughly 10–12 minutes, offering a few minutes of weightlessness before touchdown. Blue Origin has not disclosed current ticket prices, but proceeds from Sun’s 2021 bid were channelled to 19 space-focused charities. The company says the increasing flight cadence underscores its push to make reusable suborbital launches a regular element of the commercial space market.