The University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) was able to catch up with two Air Force ROTC alumni, incoming Space Force Lieutenants Christopher Williams and Mitchell Montalvo, for their insights into the upcoming Blue Origin spaceflight. Blue Origin, the aerospace company spearheaded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, will launch its first passenger spaceflight on Tuesday, July 20 from Mount Vernon, TX, 600 miles from where Lieutenants Montalvo and Williams grew up. The two made Cougar history earlier this year, becoming the first members of Detachment 003 to enter directly into the United States Space Force (USSF). Both underwent a rigorous and competitive selection process to serve in the newest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces.
The two Houstonians will have their eyes on the livestream of Blue Origin as Bezos and crew embark on an 11-minute flight to the edge of space.
“As a Houstonian who grew up next to the Johnson Space Center, space launches will never get boring for me,” Williams said. “The roar of the engines that so many people past and present have worked to put together, the procedures and knowledge from past unmanned missions that allow us to send humans to space and return them safely. I have a never-ending excitement for the next explorations and endeavors that this launch will make possible for my generation and future generations.”
Williams graduated in December 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry, and Montalvo graduated in May 2021 with a computer science degree. Montalvo sees the Blue Origin spaceflight as an incredible opportunity to draw attention to the depth and breadth of public and private space-exploration efforts in the United States.
“People are mainly familiar with the governmental, commercial and military applications of the space industry,” Montalvo said.” “However, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin are bringing to the forefront the possibility for people to make one of their distant dreams a reality: becoming an astronaut. This commercial route is going to bring about new ideas in the space domain. However, it remains to be seen how this will affect the rules and regulations surrounding commercial access to space.”
Williams hopes this mission will help to inform the public of the competitors in commercial spaceflight beyond industry leader SpaceX.
“More competition will breed new innovations that will benefit us all,” Williams said. “I also love to learn how these different spacecraft designs can lead to more efficient and reliable methods of space flight.”
Montalvo believes the Blue Origin spaceflight will help aeronautics experts start to evaluate how far untrained, civilian astronauts can go into space and may begin to answer the question of whether there could one day be human colonies on other planets as Bezos envisions.
Williams will join the U.S. Space Force on December 17, and Montalvo will enter on May 14, 2022.