Blue Origin

This astronaut crossed the Kármán Line (100 km), the internationally accepted boundary of space.

Crossed Kármán Line

Eugene was born in Ukraine and emigrated to the United States in 1979, where he started his career in real estate and finance. His passions include meditation, travel, and adventure sports. He lives in upstate New York and has four children. Courtesy of Blue Origin.

NS-26

Blue Origin will launch its eighth crewed suborbital mission. The NS-26 mission will send six humans to suborbital space.

Named after the first American to reach space, Alan Shepard, the New Shepard rocket is powered by a single Blue Origin-developed engine for both launch and landing.

New Shepard

Eugene Grin

Ukraine

Nicolina is a philanthropist and entrepreneur whose career spans high fashion modeling to property development and founding multiple IT corporations in the 1990s. A graduate of CoachU and a vocal advocate for STEM education, she has dedicated her life to mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs. Her forthcoming biography, "Grit, Diamonds, Stars," delves into her journey, offering insights into overcoming hardship with grace and determination. Based in Singapore, Nicolina is a certified helicopter pilot and a spirited explorer with a love for cars, fine wine, and the occasional cigar. Courtesy of Blue Origin.

Nicolina Elrick

United Kingdom

Singapore

This astronaut became the first Iranian man to fly in space.

First Male Iranian Astronaut

Eiman Jahangir was born in Tehran, Iran and immigrated to Nashville, TN when he was four years old. From a young age he had a passion for space and medicine. He attended Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School, Nashville, TN, a magnet school for Math and Engineering, before pursuing a Bachelor of Arts at the George Washington University, Washington, DC and then a Medical Doctorate from the University of Tennessee, Memphis, TN. He completed an Internal Medicine Residency at Boston University Medical Center, Boston, MA and a Fellowship in Cardiovascular Medicine at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. He is now an Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University and the Director of the Sections of General Cardiology and Cardio-Oncology. He spends his time caring for patients, educating students, and performing research. Eiman has pursued his childhood interest in human space flight over the last 15 years. He interviewed twice as a finalist for the Astronaut Candidate position at NASA (2009 and 2013). He has training in life support systems, space physiology, high-G, crew resource management, spacesuits, high-altitudes, and biometric analysis through the International Institute of Astronautical Sciences. Notably, Eiman became the first Iranian man to go to space on Blue Origin's NS-26 mission.

Dr. Eiman Jahangir

Iran

United States of America

Ephraim is an American-Israeli businessman, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Parchem Fine & Specialty Chemicals, a technology company revolutionizing supply chains for specialized raw materials and ingredients globally. Ephraim is a trustee and mentor at a variety of organizations and think tanks, as well as a race car driver, chef, and avid skier and adventurer. Ephraim and his family split their time between New York, Israel, and the Caribbean. Courtesy of Blue Origin.

Ephraim Rabin

Israel

Rob is a distinguished professor and director of the Astraeus Space Institute at the University of Florida. He has spent his career studying how living organisms respond to extreme conditions, especially microgravity. He and his colleagues have worked with NASA astronauts to conduct numerous experiments on the International Space Station that have shown that plants turn certain genes on and off in response to changes in gravity. They were also the first to prove that plants could grow in lunar soil collected during the Apollo missions. Ferl is also a national leader in space policy, having recently chaired a National Academies of Sciences committee on the direction of space biology research over the next decade. Rob received funding for this technology flight test through a NASA TechFlights grant by the agency’s Flight Opportunities program as well as from NASA’s Division of Biological and Physical Sciences. Courtesy of Blue Origin.

Rob Ferl

Karsen is poised to make history as the youngest woman ever to cross the Kármán line. A senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Karsen is majoring in Communications and Astronomy. After graduation, she intends to pursue a career in the space industry. In 2024, she founded Orbitelle, an initiative to encourage women to pursue careers in the space industry. Karsen has researched radio astronomy at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia and worked at UNC's Morehead Planetarium. She’s also immersed herself in centrifugal force training, experienced weightlessness during a Zero-Gravity flight, and currently in training for her scuba diving license. Courtesy of Blue Origin.

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