Adventurer Vanessa O'Brien tells what it was like to go into space on board The Origin rocket
September 18, 2022
- Mission NS-22 brings the total of people flown to space by Blue Origin to 31 since the first launch in July 2021
By SADIE WHITELOCKS FOR MAILONLINE
A British-American adventurer has revealed what it was like travelling into suborbital space for the first time aboard Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rocket-capsule – and has unveiled exclusively to MailOnline Travel her incredible souvenir photos.
Vanessa O'Brien, 57, experienced the 'final frontier' this August and never-before-seen images show her floating around the capsule 65 miles up wearing blue nail polish that matches her spacesuit, with the Earth forming an eye-poppingly majestic background.
The investment banker, who swapped her city career to become an explorer 12 years ago and counts summiting Everest and K2 and reaching both poles among her achievements, told MailOnline Travel that the 10-minute 30-second trip was 'out of this world' - but that there was a rather uncomfortable moment as she re-entered the Earth's atmosphere to land.
Blue Origin's first crewed mission was on July 20, 2021, and O'Brien soon found out she had landed a seat on the sixth voyage. Pictured, her rocket launch in motion
Spaceflight company Blue Origin was founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2020 and O'Brien was among thousands who signed up for a flight.