— The primary three girls to fly into house on Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft have been honored with their very personal bobbleheads.
The restricted version collectible figurines, which function the spring-loaded nodding heads of economic astronauts Wally Funk, Audrey Powers and Laura Shepard Churchley, at the moment are accessible from Blue Origin’s on-line store. The bobbleheads are boxed in mission-specific packaging and retail for $34.95 every.
Along with capturing the likeness of every lady, the Funk, Powers and Churchley bobbleheads depict their topic within the blue flight swimsuit that they wore for his or her 10-minute-long suborbital spaceflights, full with identify tag and miniature mission patch. Every 7-inch (18-cm) statuette is mounted to a black base that additionally shows the astronaut’s identify.
Funk is modeled along with her arms outstretched, recreating the pose she struck after her NS-16 flight. One of many so-called “Mercury 13” feminine pilots who privately underwent the identical medical checks as NASA’s “Unique 7” Mercury astronauts within the Sixties, Funk lastly reached house in July 2021. She flew with three others, together with Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, on the corporate’s first crewed launch. Funk, who was 82 on the time of her flight, holds the file for the oldest lady to fly into house.
Powers flew on NS-18 in October 2021, the identical flight that included actor William Shatner of “Star Trek” fame. As Blue Origin’s vp for mission and flight operations, Powers grew to become the corporate’s first worker astronaut. Her figurine contains her sporting the customized Omega Speedmaster wristwatch that Blue Origin items to every of its New Shepard crew members.
“I am so grateful I had the chance to see the Earth from house, and I want everybody might share in that have,” Powers stated in a press release launched by Blue Origin.
Churchley’s bobblehead contains her sporting two rings, together with her father’s Naval Academy class ring, which he flew to the moon in 1971 after which she returned to house on NS-19 in December 2021. Churchley is the daughter of Alan Shepard, the primary U.S. astronaut to fly in house, the commander of Apollo 14 and the late namesake for Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch automobile.
The bobbleheads are a brand new providing for Blue Origin, which additionally provides company-branded attire, mission patches, New Shepard scale fashions and merchandise for its non-profit instructional and advocacy group, Membership for the Future.
Up to now, Blue Origin has launched six human spaceflights and a complete of 31 individuals (one individual flew twice). In September 2022, the corporate suffered a launch failure on its twenty third New Shepard mission, an uncrewed flight with solely science experiments and cargo aboard. Blue Origin is predicted to renew flights in 2023.
