Florida couple become two-time space tourists with New Shepard flight

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Winter Park power couple Marc and Sharon Hagle returned to space on a short suborbital flight aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket on Friday.

The duo first flew to space on New Shepard back in 2022, the fourth-ever flight of the space tourism rocket. For flight No. 2, they joined four new crewmates on the NS-28 mission that lifted off from Blue Origin's West Texas launch site at 10:30 a.m. EST (9:30 a.m. CST).

This was ninth human spaceflight since the first in 2021 that took up company founder Jeff Bezos. The trips last a little longer than 10 minutes, but takes passengers up past the Karman line—about 62 miles high—the internationally recognized altitude for someone having gone into space.

Passengers experience a few minutes of weightlessness before making a parachute-assisted landing just a few miles from the launch site.

Also flying on NS-28 were science communicator Emily Calandrelli; financial services exec Austin Litteral; entrepreneur James Russell; and investment banking CEO Henry Wolfond.

The Hagles flew on the NS-20 mission on March 31, 2022, and have seats reserved for a future space tourism flight with Virgin Galactic as well as one of the first flights of space balloon venture Space Perspectives.

The pair, who were 73 on that first trip, became the first married couple on a commercial spaceflight and took some time while weightless to share a kiss. The trip was a 26th wedding anniversary present.

Marc Hagle is president and CEO of Central Florida commercial property company Tricor International Corp., and Sharon Hagle is founder of local nonprofit SpaceKids Global. The couple live in Winter Park and have a philanthropic hand in several Orlando-area ventures.

NS-28 used Blue Orgin's RSS First Step capsule, which has made all the human spaceflights for New Shepard to date.

This trip brings the total to 50 passengers taken to space, although the Hagles and one other previous customer are all repeat fliers.

The price for New Shepard flights has not been revealed.

Others that have flown on it include the likes of Star Trek's William Shatner, NFL Hall of Famer and "Good Morning America" co-host Michael Strahan and Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of Alan Shepard, the first American in space for whom the rocket is named.

2024 Orlando Sentinel. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.