UNC student to become youngest woman to cross space on Blue Origin

A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student is set to make history as part of a six-person crew flying on a Blue Origin mission.

Karsyn Kitchen is expected to become the youngest woman ever to cross the Karman Line.

Blue Origin has successfully flown 37 people above the Kármán Line, the internationally recognized boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.

New Shepard (NS)-26 is scheduled to lift off Thursday morning from the first launch site in West Texas. You can Watch the launch hereThe launch window begins at 9 a.m. ET.

The step into the great unknown runs in the family. Carson’s father, University of North Carolina professor Jim Kitchen, went to space with Blue Origin in 2022.

Carson is majoring in communications and astronomy at the University of North Carolina. She is looking to work in the space industry.

In 2024, Kitchen founded the Orbitel Initiative to encourage women to pursue careers in the space industry. Carsen has conducted radio astronomy research at Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia and worked at the University of North Carolina’s Morehead Planetarium. The Durham Academy graduate experienced weightlessness during zero-gravity flight and is currently training to become a scuba diver.

The crew includes:

• Nicolena Elric
• Rob Ferrell
• Eugene Green
• Dr. Iman Jahangir
• Carson’s Kitchen
• Ephraim Rabin