Blue Origin has revealed the crew for its upcoming NS-36 mission, the program’s 15th human spaceflight. The five named astronauts are Jeff Elgin, Danna Karagussova, Dr. Clint Kelly III, Aaron Newman, and Vitalii Ostrovsky, with a sixth member choosing to remain anonymous until after the flight. This mission will bring Blue Origin’s total number of people flown above the Kármán line to 75, with Dr. Kelly marking a milestone as the company’s fifth repeat customer, having previously flown on the NS-22 mission in August 2022.
The crew represents a diverse group of high achievers and explorers. Jeff Elgin is a franchise industry executive who founded FranChoice, a company dedicated to helping people achieve business ownership. Danna Karagussova, a media and events co-founder and lifelong mountaineer, views space as a transformative frontier for human evolution. Dr. Clint Kelly III is an electrical engineer whose pioneering work at DARPA helped catalyze the development of driverless cars; he is also an accomplished wildlife photographer.
Aaron Newman is a serial entrepreneur, U.S. Army veteran, and prolific explorer who has visited the wreck of the Titanic and descended into the Mariana Trench. Vitalii Ostrovsky, a Ukrainian businessman and systems analyst, is a relentless globetrotter who has lived in over 100 countries, and now sets his sights on the ultimate journey beyond Earth.
