Indian-origin Tushar Mehta was among the six crew members Billionaire Jeff Bezos's space company Blue Origin sent to the suborbital space on Tuesday (Feb 25).

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Mehta was part of Blue Origin's 10th space tourism mission, which took off from the space company's West Texas facility on Tuesday at 10:50 am EST (15:50 GMT and 9:50 a.m. local Texas time), following a slight delay because of a hold.

Also read | Watch: Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin makes debut launch of New Glenn rocket

"Perfect 10"

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The six crew members aboard the New Shephard (NS) spacecraft had named themselves "Perfect 10" a nod to Blue Origin's 10th mission.

"Well, that makes perfect sense to me, considering the fact that this is, in fact, our 10th human flight," said launch commentator Eddie Seyffert during the livestreaming of the Blue Origin mission.

The flight was titled NS-30 by Blue Origin, as it was the New Shephard's 30th overall flight. It was however the 10th flight of the vehicle's crewed mission.

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Also read | Parachute malfunctions on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin mission

Who else travelled to space with Tushar Mehta?

Alongside Tushar Mehta (a hedge fund partner) were venture capitalist Lane Bess, Spanish TV host Jesús Calleja, entrepreneur and physicist Elaine Chia Hyde, reproductive endocrinologist Richard Scott and an undisclosed sixth passenger only identified as R.Wilson.

Notably, Lane Bess made history as the first repeat space tourist to fly with Blue Origin. As per the space company, to date, New Shepard has flown 52 people to space, with four individuals flying twice.

Also read | Watch: Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifts off with six crew on board, including one Indian

What happens on Blue Origin space tourist flights?

While Blue Origin in its social media posts referred to the people aboard NS-30 as "astronaut crew," technically they're space tourists and not astronauts. 

Space tourists aboard the New Shepherd flights get to experience 10–12 minutes of adventure. That is how long the flight takes from liftoff to capsule touchdown. They pay a hefty price to experience a few minutes of weightlessness during this stretch and get to see Earth against the blackness of space.

(With inputs from agencies)