Launch system for space jaunts is tested
New Shepard aims to carry folks way up
Blue Origin launched its New Shepard rocket system Thursday morning from West Texas, marking its 14th flight in a program aiming to push people past the threshold of space and then return them in a roughly 10-minute journey.
Thursday’s launch, without people onboard, tested features the company will use when it does launch paying customers. This included cushioned wall linings and sound suppression devices to reduce ambient noise, a cooling system and humidity controls to regulate temperature and prevent capsule windows from fogging, and speakers with a microphone and push-totalk button at each seat.
Also hitching a ride was Mannequin Skywalker — Blue Origin’s infamous mannequin who is the only “person” to have ridden on the New Shepard — strapped into one of the crew capsule’s six seats.
His pockets were filled with postcards created by students. These postcards will receive a “Flown to Space” stamp before being mailed back to the students.
“Congrats to the Blue Origin team on another successful launch,” Blue Origin said on Twitter. “One step closer.”
Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, is developing the New Shepard reusable suborbital rocket system to travel more than 62 miles above the planet. This would carry its occupants past the Kármán line, which is largely identified as the boundary of space.
New Shepard has previously flown research and technology demonstrations, including an autonomous plant growth system to be used in microgravity and NASA technologies that could enable exact and soft landings on the moon, but it has not
Prior yet launched people. to this week, its most recent launch occurred Oct. 13. Before that, it launched Dec. 11, 2019.
Thursday’s launch sent the crew capsule 347,568 feet, nearly 66 miles, above ground level. The maximum ascent velocity was 2,242 mph.