MUMBAI: Indian-origin Tushar Shah, an MIT graduate and a member of the six-person crew, successfully completed an 11-minute celestial journey on Jeff Bezos‘s Blue Origin NS-30 tourism mission from West Texas in the US Tuesday night.
Described as a private and low-key person by Blue Origin, Shah studied high-energy experimental particle physics for his PhD at MIT. He and his wife, Sara, are philanthropists focusing on addressing issues related to poverty, health, and education.
Currently, he is a hedge fund partner. Shah has flown at a time when India and the US are planning to further collaborate in the space sector.
After zooming past the Von Karman line, 100 km above Earth and internationally recognized as the boundary of space, the spacecraft executed a precise touchdown 11 minutes later. They experienced brief moments of weightlessness and had a view of Earth.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard program has flown 52 people, including repeat astronauts, into space in its 30 space flights so far.