Blue Origin’s latest mission takes a professor and entrepreneur to the edge of space

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• Judy Woodruff:

  American astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth today from the International Space Station, along with two fellow Russian cosmonauts. He was in space for 355 straight days, longer than any American yet.

  Life on the space station has been the center of attention because of U.S.-Russia tensions. But, tomorrow, the focus will return to private efforts. Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Jeff Bezos, will launch its latest human flight in the morning.

  Bezos' plans have been both hailed and sometimes derided as simply fostering space tourism for the uber-wealthy. Tomorrow's launch includes a business professor and entrepreneur who is about to make history himself.

  Science correspondent Miles O'Brien has the story.

  Jim Kitchen, University of North Carolina: Whoa.

• Miles O’Brien:

  Jim Kitchen is a man on a mission. The professor of entrepreneurship will be one of six passengers on Jeff Bezos' space travel venture Blue Origin.

  As anyone can, Kitchen applied on Blue Origin's Web site several times to take part in the launch.

• Jim Kitchen:

  Copy, paste, click, and a dozen times, maybe more. And then, finally, about three months ago, I actually heard from them, and they said, hey, you're on the next launch if you want to be, and I was — yes, I'm in.

• Miles O’Brien:

  It's a lifelong dream coming true.

• Jim Kitchen:

  I went to college and, instead of being an astronaut, I actually became an entrepreneur, promoting low-Earth-orbit space trips. I just wanted to sell enough so that I could go to space myself.

• Miles O’Brien:

  Kitchen's itch to explore things unknown led him to start a travel business, allowing him to see the world. Now he plans to become the only person in history to have traveled to all 193 countries and beyond.

  The New Shepard rocket, which Kitchen will ride in, travels just past the Karman Line, the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. Kitchen won't say how much he's paying for the ride, and Blue Origin is tight-lipped as well.

  But, in 2018, Reuters reported seats open to the public would sell for around $200,000.

• Jim Kitchen:

  My parents were public school teachers, so I'm not one of these people that's just going into space and forking it out. This is my hard-earned money. This has been a lifelong goal for me.

• Miles O’Brien:

  This is Blue Origin's fourth passenger flight. In October, William Shatner caught a free ride, becoming the oldest person ever to go to space.

  These suborbital hops may be short visits to the edge of space, but Bezos is thinking big. He sees them as an early step toward colonizing space. Kitchen is a believer.

• Jim Kitchen:

  The dream is still alive. Push through the boundaries and make it happen. I'm an entrepreneurship professor .Those are the lessons of this launch that I want to take back into my classroom.

• Miles O’Brien:

  To prepare for the trip, Kitchen has experienced what less and more forces of gravity feel like.

• Man:

  Five. You're at 6 g.

• Miles O’Brien:

  Kitchen is only allowed to bring a three-pound bag of mementos. He plans to carry sunflower seeds to plant when he gets home and stickers.

• Jim Kitchen:

  This one is only for my students. My professor went to space, and all I got was this lousy sticker.

• Miles O’Brien:

  But like any astronaut worth his salt, he aims to push the envelope.

• Jim Kitchen:

  North Carolina, two of their icons, Michael Jordan, Dean Smith. We're going to get the other coaches to sign this. Got to get permission to get this one on, because it's going to overweight my bag.

• Miles O’Brien:

  The ride will last all of 11 minutes. Kitchen says he won't waste a second.

• Jim Kitchen:

  I plan on just looking out that window and taking in the curvature of the Earth, the big, beautiful blue ball called Earth, the blackness of the universe.

  And then — and here's what's going to be fun — I'm going to flip over and look at it upside down. That's my plan.

• Woman:

  There we go, the drogues lifting out the main parachutes.

• Miles O’Brien:

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Miles O'Brien, still here on planet Earth.