How many times has New Shepard launched? Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin’s new space mission
Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos, is set to launch its New Shepard rocket for the first time in more than 14 months.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin aerospace company will launch its New Shepard rocket on Monday, Dec. 18, after a 14-month break. The ship experienced a failure mid-launch in September last year during a cargo mission.
The lift-off is scheduled during a launch window that begins 8:30 a.m. CST from Launch Site One in West Texas. It would be New Shepard’s 24th mission, this time carrying 33 payloads. The system has completed six astronaut missions and is now on its 13th payload mission.
Blue Origin: On the path to public space tourism
Blue Origin aims to make space tourism accessible to the public, allowing people to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the Earth from the edge of space. The development of New Shepard is part of the aerospace company’s vision to enable private human spaceflight and advance space exploration technologies.
New Shepard is a suborbital rocket system named after Alan Shepard, the first American to travel to space. The rocket is designed for both space tourism and research missions.
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New Shepard’s reusable components
One of its notable features is its reusability. The rocket booster and the crew capsule, engine, and parachutes are designed to be used for multiple flights. This reusability is aimed at reducing the overall cost of access to space.
New Shepard takes off vertically and lands vertically. The rocket booster returns to Earth and lands this way for refurbishment, thus also making it reusable for future flights.
The ship carries a crew capsule designed to accommodate space tourists. The capsule is equipped with large windows, allowing passengers to observe the curvature of the Earth.
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New Shepard not designed to enter the Earth’s orbit
As the New Shepard is designed for suborbital flights, it does not achieve the velocity required to enter into orbit around the Earth. The rocket merely provides a brief period of weightlessness before the crew capsule returns to Earth under parachutes.
New Shepard has also been used for various test and research missions. The rocket provides a platform for testing technologies and conducting scientific experiments in microgravity conditions.