After buying their first tickets to suborbital space 15 years ago this month, Central Florida couple Sharon and Marc Hagle are now within days of their first launch.
The duo are among the six astronauts set to launch aboard Blue Origin New Shepard rocket as part of the company’s NS-20 mission scheduled for a 9:30 a.m. ET liftoff near Van Horn, Texas. They first bought tickets for a Virgin Galactic flight back in 2007.
Marc, the president and CEO of Winter Park-based residential and commercial property development company Tricor International, said it’s hard to believe the moment is almost here.
“Oh, it’s more than surreal. It’s a dream come true,” Marc said.
The couple have been active in the world of philanthropy in Central Florida for years. They established the Marc and Sharon Hagle Charitable Operating Foundation in 2014 and have supported a number of groups in the arts, sciences and other areas over the years.
Between 2007 and 2011, they donated $2.5 million to the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Also in 2011, they donated $750,000 to the Orlando Philharmonic.
In 2015, Sharon founded the nonprofit SpaceKids Global, which has the goal of inspiring elementary-age children into the areas of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math).
She said listening to the launch of Alan Shepard, the first American in space, on a PA system while growing up in West Virginia sparked her passion for space.
Sharon said that she’s become friends with Shepard’s daughter, Laura Shepard Churchley, who flew on the last Blue Origin flight.
“She kind of gave us a little bit of insight,” Sharon said. “And I hear that she’s gonna be over at the [launch] site. So, I’m really excited about that.”
The legacy that they’re stepping into among the first commercial tourists in space is not lost on either of them. Marc, an alumnus of Purdue University, points to his alma mater’s nickname as the “Cradle of Astronauts.”
The Indiana-based member of the Big Ten has graduated 27 people who have gone on to earn their astronaut wings, including Apollo 11 astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and Apollo 1 astronauts, Roger Chaffee and Virgil “Gus” Grissom.
Marc Hagle will join fellow alums, Beth Moses and Sirisha Bandla, as those who’ve flown to space on commercial spaceflights.
“Think back to the people that are represented on that list. It’s the who’s who of the world,” Marc said. “I’m just honored and so pleased that I have the opportunity to fly and to have my picture hung in the same area as theirs. That’s just unbelievable.”
Inspiring a new generation
When the pair take off on March 23, a big part of their goal is to capture an experience of the world that they can bring back down to Earth to share.
The couple said they’ve been able to experience the feeling of weightlessness through opportunities like zero gravity training and flying on board the ZERO-G plane. They said really taking in the overview effect of looking back at Earth is what they are most looking forward to experiencing.
“It’s been told to us from people that have already experienced this flight that if they had it over again, they’d stay in their seat and just look out the window,” Sharon said.
She said being able to share these experiences with young kids is important because they can help them see that there’s a multitude of careers available connected to space.
“The kids think, ‘Oh, I didn’t know there were other careers in the space industry. I didn’t know that women could be in the space industry,’” Sharon said. “They really thought that [being] an astronaut was the only career they can have.”
Right now, SpaceKids Global is sponsoring its first national essay-writing contest where kids can write a piece focused around the theme “Why I Want to go to Space” for the chance of winning a flight on the ZERO-G plane. The essay competition is accepting submissions until Monday, March 21 at 5 p.m. ET.
Two students will be selected for the prize. Judges of the essays include representatives of Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and SpaceX, among others.
“I think it’s really important that people realize that in the space industry, we all have the same goal,” Sharon said. “We all want to educate the next generation. We all want to be more civilized.”
Celebrating in space
Not only will the NS-20 flight be the first for the Hagles, but it also comes just days ahead of a milestone for them: their 26th wedding anniversary.
The duo will become the first married couple on a commercial spaceflight. The only other couple to fly to space together was Mark Lee and Jan Davis who flew on STS-47 in 1992. They didn’t inform NASA they had married until after the ceremony in 1991, at which point it was too late to train new astronauts for the mission on Space Shuttle Endeavor.
“We’ll see if we’re still talking to each other when we get back to Earth,” Sharon joked.
“Blue Origin is an incredible organization,” Marc added. “If you study the patch that they put out, there’s a subtlety on the patch that celebrates our 26th anniversary.”
A comedian, a professor and CEO board a spaceship…
Joining the Hagles on Blue Origin’s fourth human flight in the New Shepard program are Marty Allen, the CEO of Party America; Jim Kitchen, a professor at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School; Dr. George Nield, the president of Commercial Space Technologies, LLC and former associate administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration; and SNL cast member Pete Davidson.
Davidson joined the cast of SNL back in 2014. Last year, when SpaceX founder Elon Musk hosted the show, Davidson was featured in a sketch called “Chad on Mars.”
“He’s excited as we are and we’ve had an opportunity to meet him virtually and talk to him,” Marc said. “He’s quite an interesting character, but he’s really a good person.”
As is the case with other crews on New Shepard missions, the Hagles are planning to bring some small mementos with them on the trip. Marc said they gave a lot of thought to what they will bring, but said they want to surprise their family and friends with what those items are on launch day.
Sharon did say that she’s bringing a small figurine of Buzz Aldrin up with her.
“We’re pretty good friends with the Aldrins and I’m taking my little Buzz Aldrin character with me,” she said.
And while she won’t be able to join them in space, their Pomeranian, Saba the Space Dog, will be joining them at Astronaut Village near Van Horn before the flight. They said Blue Origin is making a flight suit for her.
The couple said they’re also planning to bring her aboard with them when they fly aboard a Space Perspective balloon flight in late 2024 or early 2025.
“We’re on flight four for Space Perspective,” Marc said. “So, it will be a number of our good friends and us that are all going together on that flight.”
Sharon and Marc also awaiting their flight with Virgin Galactic, but a date for that has yet to be set. They hope to fly aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon as well someday.