Florida couple becomes space tourists twice with New Shepard flight

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

The duo first flew into space on New Shepard in 2022, the fourth flight of the space tourism rocket. For Flight #2, they joined four new teammates on mission NS-28 which lifted off from Blue Origin’s launch site in West Texas at 10:30 a.m. EST (9:30 a.m. CST).

This is the ninth human spaceflight since the first in 2021 by company founder Jeff Bezos. Trips last just over 10 minutes, but take passengers beyond the Karman Line, about 62 miles high, the internationally recognized altitude for someone who has been to space.

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

Science communicator Emily Calandrelli also flew aboard the NS-28; Austin Litteral, director of financial services; entrepreneur James Russell; and investment bank 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 space balloon company Space Perspectives’ first flights.

The couple, aged 73 on that first trip, became the first married couple to take a commercial spaceflight and took time out in zero gravity to share a kiss. The trip was a 26th wedding anniversary gift.

Marc Hagle is president and CEO of Central Florida commercial real estate firm Tricor International Corp., and Sharon Hagle is the founder of SpaceKids Global, a local nonprofit. The couple lives in Winter Park and is philanthropically involved in several projects in the Orlando area.

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

This trip brings the total to 50 passengers taken into space, although the Hagles and another previous client are all frequent travelers.

The price of New Shepard flights has not been revealed.

Others who have flown on it include 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.

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