Glen de Vries, a businessman who took part in a Blue Origin space flight last month, has died in a plane crash, police say. He was 49.
According to New Jersey State Police, Mr de Vries was killed on Thursday afternoon when a small aircraft he was on crashed in Sussex County, New Jersey. Another passenger, Thomas Fischer, 54, was also killed.
Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. According to the FAA, the plane – a small, four-seat aircraft called a Cessna C172 – went down in a “wooded area.”
“Local law enforcement notified the FAA that they located a single-engine Cessna 172 that had crashed in a wooded area of a state park near Lake Kemah, NJ around 4pm,” a spokesperson for the FAA said. “The flight departed Essex County Airport in Caldwell, NJ for Sussex Airport. Two people were on board.”
In a statement, Blue Origin mourned one of its first astronauts.
“We are devastated to hear of the sudden passing of Glen de Vries,” the company tweeted. “He brought so much life and energy to the entire Blue Origin team and to his fellow crewmates. His passion for aviation, his charitable work, and his dedication to his craft will long be revered and admired.”
On 13 October, Mr de Vries flew to space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-18 rocket, alongside Star Trek actor William Shatner and two other passengers. It was only the company’s second space flight.
“I am actually looking forward to seeing the Earth from a different perspective than I ever had before,” Mr de Vries told CBS before the voyage. “I just can’t wait to stare out that window and feel differently about humanity and our planet than I’ve ever had the opportunity to before.”
After the flight, Mr de Vries said he hoped more people could have the same experience in the future.
“That is something we need to make accessible, in an equitable way, to as many people on the planet as possible,” he told the network.
Mr de Vries, a molecular biologist by training, was a co-founder of Medidata Solutions, a highly successful tech company that makes software for clinical research. In 2019, the French company Dassault Systemes bought Medidata for $5.8 billion.
On Friday, Dassault offered its condolences.
“Our thoughts and support go out to Glen’s family,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement. “Our deepest sympathy also goes out to our MEDIDATA team, which Glen co-founded. His tireless energy, empathy and pioneering spirit left their mark on everyone who knew him. We will truly miss Glen, but his dreams – which we share – live on: we will pursue progress in life sciences & healthcare as passionately as he did.”
The entrepreneur also flew planes in his spare time, and was a certified private pilot. It is not yet clear whether he was driving the plane that crashed on Thursday.
