UNC-Chapel Hill senior becomes youngest female astronaut to cross the edge of space

This week, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Karsen Kitchen, went into space as part of Blue Origin’s eighth human spaceflight and the 26th mission of the New Shepard program. The flight marks a significant milestone for the private company and its passengers. Kitchen made history as the youngest female astronaut to cross the Karman Line, the edge of space, located about 62.14 miles above the Earth’s surface.

The New Shepard rocket, carrying a crew of six, launched at approximately 9 a.m. eastern time on Thursday, reaching a maximum velocity of 2,238 miles per hour. There were no pilots on board, as the vehicle is fully autonomous. Kitchen and the rest of the crew experienced zero gravity for slightly more than a minute before returning to Earth safely. With their New Shepard program, Blue Origin has now officially flown 43 people into space.

The NS-26 New Shepard Mission was streamed live on Blue Origin’s official YouTube channel. 

Before her flight, Kitchen interned with Blue Origin in a strategy, marketing, and sales during the summer of 2024 in the Washington DC-Baltimore area. During her time there, she oversaw project management and external communications. She also worked with Club for the Future, a non-profit owned by Blue Origin.  

Interestingly, she is not the first member of her family to go to space. Her father and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, Jim Kitchen, was a passenger on a previous New Shepard flight in 2022. He was on the ground to greet his daughter when she returned to Earth.

Kitchen is studying Communications and Astronomy at UNC-Chapel Hill. She plans to graduate in the Spring of 2025 and is deeply involved in school outside of classes. Kitchen has been the co-president of the Carolina Astronomy and SEDS Association. She also orchestrated the educational programming for optical telescope operations with the UNC Skynet Robotic Telescope Network, according to her LinkedIn.  

Kitchen recently founded Orbitelle in April of this year, to provide educational opportunities and help young women to “find their place in space.” The group encourages even women who are not pursuing STEM education, as the industry needs employees with various backgrounds. Orbitelle plans to implement programs and visits to schools across the country to educate girls about astronomy and the diverse opportunities in the aerospace industry.

“I’m doing this for all the young women out there that think they can’t do it. Who think that they can’t have a job in space. I want to inspire as many people as I possibly can,” Kitchen told local television news outlet, ABC 7. 

Blue Origin was founded former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos with the future ideal and vision of someday having millions of people working, and even living, in space.

“Blue Origin envisions a time when people can tap into the limitless resources of space and enable the movement of damaging industries into space to preserve Earth, humanity’s blue origin.” reads their official website.

Those interested in the idea of flying to space can purchase a window seat on a future space flight.  While Blue Origin has not publicly disclosed the price to fly to space, industry experts and some public information indicates that a seat on Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft could cost between $200,000 and $300,000 per passenger.

Kaitlyn Potts is an intern with Carolina Journal and a junior at North Carolina State University.

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