Blue Origin to launch Alan Shepard's daughter and GMA's Michael Strahan to space

The third crewed flight of Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital spacecraft will launch December 9 with a crew of six, including a network morning anchor and the eldest daughter of Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, the company announced Tuesday.

Michael Strahan of ABC's "Good Morning America" and Laura Shepard Churchley will fly as guests of Blue Origin, joining four paying customers: philanthropist Dylan Taylor, investor Evan Dick, Lane Ventures founder Lane Bess and his son, Cameron.

Owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin named its sub-orbital spacecraft and rocket after the late Alan Shepard, who blasted off on a sub-orbital up-and-down flight in NASA's Freedom 7 capsule on May 5, 1961. He was the second man to fly in space after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, and the first American to do so.