December 11, 2021

— Laura Shepard Churchley is now the 372nd American to fly into space. Her dad was the first.

Separated by 60 years, 7 months and 6 days, Churchley followed in her father's footsteps — and suborbital flight trajectory — by launching on board Blue Origin's New Shepard on Saturday (Dec. 11). The rocket, named after Alan Shepard, the United States' first astronaut to fly into space (and Churchley's dad), completed its 19th successful spaceflight and first to carry a full crew of six people.

The two Shepards' history-making missions were similar in many ways and yet the fact that Churchley was able to repeat her father's feat with only a few days of training speaks to how far human spaceflight has come in the past six decades. Churchley flew as a guest of Blue Origin, which was founded by Jeff Bezos, the former CEO of Amazon.

"This was just wonderful. I was trained too well, I knew exactly what was coming," Churchley told Bezos after landing and exiting the capsule. "I thought about Daddy on coming down and I thought, 'Gosh, he didn't get to enjoy any of what I am getting to enjoy.' He was working, he had to do it himself. I went on for the ride!"

New Shepard 19 launch. Click to enlarge video in a new pop-up window. (Blue Origin)

Here is a look at how Shepard's Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) and Churchley's New Shepard-19 (NS-19) flights compared.

		Mercury-Redstone 3		New Shepard 19
Vehicle operator		NASA		Blue Origin
Capsule name		Freedom 7		RSS First Step
Launch site		Launch Complex-5 (LC-5) Cape Canaveral, Florida		Blue Origin Launch Site One Van Horn, Texas
Shepard on crew		Alan B. Shepard, Jr.		Laura Shepard Churchley
Age		37		74
No. in space (worldwide)		2		605
Crewmates		0		6 ("The Original Six") • Michael Strahan ("Good Morning America" anchor, at 6',4" now the tallest person in space) • Dylan Taylor • Evan Dick • Lane Bess, Cameron Bess (first parent-child pair to launch into space together)
Launch scrubs		2 (weather, 3 days)		1 (weather, 2 days)
Launch date		May 5, 1961		Dec. 11, 2021
Unplanned holds (on launch day)		2 hours, 14 minutes		16 minutes
Launch time		9:34:13 a.m. EST (1434 GMT)		9:00:42 a.m. CST (1500 GMT)
Capsule landing		9:49:35 a.m. EST (1449 GMT)		9:10:55 a.m. CST (1510 GMT)
No. of parachutes		1 drogue, 1 main		3 drogue, 3 main
Type of landing		water (splashdown)		land (touchdown)
Capsule flight duration		15 minutes, 28 seconds		10 minutes, 13 seconds
Capsule apogee (max altitude)		101.2 nautical miles 116.5 statute miles 187.5 km		57.2 nautical miles 66.8 statute miles 105.9 km
Capsule range		263.1 nautical miles 302.8 statute miles 487.3 km		[not immediately reported]
Vehicle height (capsule/booster)		83 feet (25 meters)		49 feet (15 meters)
Vehicle diameter		5.8 feet (1.8 meters)		12.1 feet (3.7 meters)
Capsule volume (habitable)		100 cubic feet (2.8 m3)		530 cubic feet (15 m3)
Capsule windows (no. and size)		0 (two 6-inch [15 cm] circular portholes)		6 (each 42.7 inches in height and 28.6 inches across at the bottom [108.5 by 72.6 centimeters])
Total flights (capsule/booster)		1 / 1		5 / 5