Tushar Shah, an Indian American physicist and philanthropist, was one of the six crew members to travel to the edge of space on Blue Origin’s tenth human spaceflight and the 30th flight for the New Shepard program.
With its Feb 25 flight, New Shepard has now flown 52 people above the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space, including repeat astronauts, the Kent, Washington-based American space technology company announced.
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Shah is a partner and the co-head of research at a quantitative hedge fund in New York City. He studied physics as an undergraduate at MIT and high energy experimental particle physics for his PhD, also at MIT. He and his wife, Sara, are philanthropists focused on addressing issues related to poverty, health, and education. They have two children.
Besides Shah, the astronaut crew included Lane Bess, Jesús Calleja, Elaine Chia Hyde and Dr. Richard Scott. Lane flew for the second time, the fourth New Shepard customer to do so.
“There’s nothing like seeing the diversity among our crews, and this mission brought together people from all over the world—scientists, doctors, entrepreneurs, and adventurers,” said Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President, New Shepard.
“It’s always inspiring to hear their unique perspectives about the life-changing impact of seeing Earth from space. Huge thanks to our customers for supporting our mission to build a road to space for the benefit of Earth.”
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A few of the symbols embedded on Blue Origin’s NS-30 mission patch include:
The airplane and clouds represent Tushar Shah, Jesús Calleja, Elaine Hyde and Dr. Richard Scott, all of whom are pilots.
The mountain represents Spanish mountaineer and adventurer Jesús Calleja, who has climbed the world’s Seven Summits.
The dove with the olive branch represents Jesús Calleja and Lane Bess’ hope for peace for all.
The Southern Cross represents Elaine Hyde’s Australian and Singaporean heritage.
The Roman numeral II along the bottom edge represents Lane’s second flight.
The winding road on the mountain leading to the crew capsule represents the road to space each of the crew’s astronauts have taken.