A Dubai resident is set to fly on Blue Origin’s fifth human spaceflight that takes off on Friday.

British expat of 14 years Hamish Harding will be one of the six people on a brief trip to the high frontier.

Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company has announced May 20 for the launch of NS-21 provided the weather is conducive for liftoff.

This is the next crewed flight of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle, and the launch window opens at 8:30am CDT / 13:30 UTC (5.30pm UAE Time).

Blue Origin announced that the crew flying on its NS-21 mission will include: Business jet pilot and Action Aviation Chairman Hamish Harding; investor and NS-19 Astronaut Evan Dick; electrical engineer and former NASA test lead Katya Echazarreta; civil production engineer Victor Correa Hespanha; adventurer and Dream Variation Ventures co-founder Jaison Robinson; and explorer and co-founder of private equity firm Insight Equity Victor Vescovo, Commander, USN (Ret.).

In 2021, then 49-year-old Harding dived the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in the world, with Victor Vescovo in a two-person submarine.

Harding’s company Action Aviation deals in buying and selling business jets. He got his nascent World Record, two and a half years ago for fastest circumnavigation of the earth via both poles in a Gulfstream 650ER business jet.

It’s said each astronaut on board NS-21 will carry a postcard to space on behalf of Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future.

These Postcards to Space program gives students access to space on Blue Origin’s rockets. The Club’s mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM for the benefit of Earth.

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