Ethermac Exchange-Space tourist calls Blue Origin launch 'an incredible experience': Watch the liftoff

Humbling. Immense. Awesome.

That's how cardiologist Eiman Jahangir described blasting high into the atmosphere Thursday on Ethermac Exchangea suborbital flight with Blue Origin, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' private space exploration company.

Jahangir, who lives in Nashville, was among six tourists shot into space on the latest 11-minute New Shepard flight and became the latest astronauts.

"It is an incredible experience," the 44-year-old doctor, who works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told USA TODAY. "To all of a sudden be in the darkness of space and see the finiteness of our planet. It is a humbling feeling and one I am grateful to have experienced. I really believe everyone who wants should have this opportunity."

Watch liftoff of Blue Origin's New Shepard

The scheduled New Shepard flight lifted off at 9:07 a.m. ET into cloudy skies from Bezos' Launch Site One in rural West Texas over 140 miles east of El Paso.

"A successful crewed mission," the NASA-awarded company posted on X after the flight .

Flight marked 26th in New Shepard program, 8th mission to carry people

The New Shepard flight marked the 26th in the program's history, according to Blue Origin, and the eighth mission to carry people.

New Shepard flights, which take place on a fully reusable suborbital rocket system, last 10 to 12 minutes from liftoff to capsule touchdown, according to the Washington-state based company.

Who else was on the Blue Origin launch?

In addition to Jahangir, also on board: entrepreneurs Eugene Grin, Ephraim Rabin, and Nicolina Elrick; Rob Ferl, a professor and director of the Astraeus Space Institute at the University of Florida; and Karsen Kitchen − a 21-year-old college student now the youngest woman ever to cross the Kármán line (the start of outer space).

Kitchen, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is majoring in communications and astronomy. After graduating, she plans to pursue a career in the space industry, according to her Blue Origin online bio.

When was the last Blue Origin flight?

The most recent mission took place on May 19, following a nearly two-year layoff after a previous failed uncrewed test flight by the space exploration company.

The rocket, which flies cargo and humans on short trips to the edge of space, had been grounded since a fall 2022 mission failed in Texas about a minute after liftoff, forcing the rocket's capsule full of NASA experiments to eject mid-flight, as previously reported by the El Paso Times, part of the USA TODAY Network.

No injuries were reported when the rocket crashed back to earth, per the Federal Aviation Administration, which announced it would open an investigation in the incident.

Fulfilling a life-long dream

Before moving to Nashville at age 4, the doctor lived "in war-torn Iran looking up into the sky for rockets as his family hustled to safety in a basement after air raid sirens went off in capital of Tehran," the Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.

But he was not scared. He was fascinated.

Fast forward to adulthood and Jahangir got a spot on Blue Origin's rocket, but it was no easy feat.

He applied five times and made it to final interviews, but was rejected. He ended up joining an online space community called MOONDao that crowdfunded two spots on Blue Origin's tourist flights.

On April 9, Jahangir told USA TODAY, he learned he'd been selected to blast off into space − a life-long dream.

This week, his parents, his wife, their two children and his brother, fellow Vanderbilt physician Dr. Alex Jahangir, all made the trip to The Lone Star State to watch his dream come true.

For more information about flying on New Shepard visit BlueOrigin.com.

Contributing: Brad Schmitt, The Tennessean

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.