Agra-born Arvinder Bahal touches space aboard Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin’s NS-34 mission

Among the six-member crew was Arvinder “Arvi” Singh Bahal, a US-based real estate investor originally from Agra, India.

Now a naturalised American citizen, Bahal is known for his adventurous spirit and has not only visited every country in the world but also the North and South Poles, Blue Origin said, introducing the crew of New Shepard’s 34th Mission.

According to the Blue Origin website, the businessman has also skydived Mount Everest and the Pyramids of Giza.

He holds a private pilot’s licence and has undergone helicopter training, making his spaceflight with Blue Origin a fitting extension of his lifelong passion for exploration.

The launch took place at 6:00 pm IST from Launch Site One in West Texas, with Blue Origin streaming the mission live starting 30 minutes before liftoff.

Within just 17 seconds of ignition, the New Shepard rocket cleared the launch tower, and moments later, the capsule successfully separated, allowing the crew to experience weightlessness, according to an India Today report.

At 7 minutes and 25 seconds, the reusable booster made a safe landing.

Roughly 3 minutes and 30 seconds later, the capsule carrying Bahal and the rest of the crew touched down, wrapping up the eleven-minute journey to the edge of space, the report said.

The NS-34 flight took its international crew past the Kármán line, the widely accepted boundary of space.

Turkish businessman Gökhan Erdem, Puerto Rican journalist Deborah Martorell, British philanthropist Lionel Pitchford, American entrepreneur JD Russell, and Grenadian diplomat Justin Sun were the other travellers in NS-34.

This launch brought the total number of individuals flown by New Shepard to 75, including five repeat flyers.

According to the report, reflecting on the mission’s global character, Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President of New Shepard, said: “Seeing participants from multiple countries come together is always inspiring. There’s something profoundly unifying about viewing Earth from above — it changes perspectives in a way few other experiences can.”

Arvi’s journey from Agra to the cosmos is a testament to curiosity and ambition without borders,” a Blue Origin spokesperson said, highlighting the significance of Bahal’s presence on the flight, the report added.