Miami.- Spanish businessman Alberto Gutiérrez was part of the six-person crew of Blue Origin’s NS-38 mission on Thursday, which took off and landed successfully from Jeff Bezos’ company’s launch site in Texas.
The new suborbital flight of the New Shepard spacecraft took the six crew members beyond the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space, and returned them to Earth in just about 10 minutes.
The crew took off at 10:26 local time in Texas (16:26 GMT) from the Launch Site One launch pad in the west of the state.
The NS-38 mission went off without a hitch and concluded with the vertical landing of the reusable booster and minutes later the safe return of the crewed capsule, aided by three parachutes in its final stretch before touching down.
With this flight, there are now 86 people who have been taken to space by Blue Origin since the beginning of its manned operations, including Bezos.
Who is the Spanish crew member who traveled to space with Blue Origin?
Gutiérrez joined the crew along with helicopter and airplane pilot Tim Drexler, doctor Linda Edwards, Alain Fernández, former military pilot Jim Hendren and Laura Stiles, New Shepard’s Launch Operations Director, who joined the flight at the last minute after another crew member initially scheduled was unable to fly due to illness.
The Spanish businessman, known for his passion for aviation, shared protagonism in a mission that once again highlighted the role of the private sector in space tourism
His interest in flying was reflected in the official mission patch, where two Diamond DA42 aircraft symbolize Gutiérrez and Drexler’s connection to aviation.
Gutiérrez today became the second Spanish space tourist to cross the Kármán line after the adventurer, mountaineer, and presenter Jesús Calleja, who did so in February 2025.
In addition to the businessman from Valladolid, the flight also brought together Hendren, historically associated with the F-15 Eagle fighter, an aircraft he has piloted with his son, and Stiles, an aerospace engineer with two world records in skydiving.
