Captain Gopichand, five others set to fly to edge of space aboard Blue Origin mission

Captain Gopichand Thotakura, along with five others, is set to fly to the edge of space on Blue Origin's crewed flight mission on Sunday evening.

The launch window by billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned space venture for the 11-minute flight opens at 6.30 a.m. PT (7 p.m. India time).

"We're 'Go' to proceed to launch, Sunday, May 19. The #NS25 launch window opens from Launch Site One in West Texas," the company posted on X social media platform.

The reusable New Shepard rocket is set to take the six-person crew to space above the Karman line which is an internationally recognised boundary of space that lies 100 km above the Earth's surface.

It's been more than two since Blue Origin's last crewed flight.

The six travellers include 90-year-old Ed Dwight, Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller and Thotakura.

With this mission, Thotakura will become the second Indian to visit space, after Rakesh Sharma's journey aboard Russian Soyuz T-11 in 1984.

After Sharma, three people of Indian origin have reached space -- Kalpana Chawla (1997), Sunita Williams (2006), and Raja Chari (2021) as NASA astronauts.

Blue Origin's NS-25 mission is set to lift off from Launch Site One in West Texas in the US.

The company has undertaken six human flight missions to date, and launched 31 people to the Karman line.