SERA partners with Blue Origin for human space flight

New Delhi: The Space Exploration & Research Agency (SERA) on Tuesday announced a partnership with Blue Origin to develop a human spaceflight programme that will provide the opportunity for "everyday citizens from around the world to become astronauts and participate in space science".

The programme's first flight has reserved all six seats on a future Blue Origin New Shepard mission.

While five seats will be allocated to five partner nations that have either never had an astronaut or very few, the sixth seat will be open to a person from any nation.

An earlier collaboration between SERA (formerly CSA) and Blue Origin, helped Victor Hespanha, a 28-year-old civil engineer, to become the second Brazilian in space. He flew to space on NS-21, Blue Origin’s fifth crewed flight, on June 4, 2022.