Karsen Kitchen, a 21-year-old college student at UNC, just did the younger woman to cross the Kármán line in space.
Ride on Blue originFlying New Shepard 26, Kitchen and five other passengers crossed the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.
“I have so many memories of going outside when I was younger, looking at the night sky. I'd come in and be like, 'Y'all, I want to be an astronaut,'” Kitchen said recently. interview. “I feel so grateful and it feels unreal. I still feel like I haven't processed it all.”
Kitchen is following in the footsteps of her father, Jim Kitchen, who was a passenger on the New Shepard 20 flight in 2022. “I'm doing this for all the young women out there who think they can't do it. I guess not I can have a job in space, I want to inspire as many people as I can,” Kitchen said.
This is the 26th mission and the eighth human flight for Jeff BezosThe New Shepard Company program. Since its first launch in 2021, the program has taken 37 passengers into outer space.
Watch the launch here:
We are at T-2 minutes and counting. Look #NS26 The crew flies into space here. ? https://t.co/Q84q688ySX
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) August 29, 2024