Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, has announced plans to launch its New Shepard rocket as early as December 18 – a step towards resuming its space tourism program after more than a year of suspension due to a launch mid-flight failure last September.
Main Information
The company is targeting a “launch window beginning on December 18” for the upcoming New Shepard flight, which will be uncrewed and carry 33 scientific and research payloads – technology aimed at collecting data and conducting experiments in space – in addition to 38,000 postcards to space from the “Club for the Future.”
Main Background
Before the 2022 holiday on a previous uncrewed flight, the New Shepard rocket successfully carried more than twenty people to space, including actor William Shatner from the “Star Trek” series and the founder himself, Jeff Bezos. However, in September 2022, the rocket failed a mission just seconds after launch. Blue Origin initiated an investigation, overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to determine the cause of the failure. The FAA concluded its investigation into the incident in September, requiring Blue Origin to undertake 21 corrective actions, including redesigning its engine and rocket nozzle components. In the time between launches, its space tourism competitor, Virgin Galactic founded by Richard Branson, managed to continue its operations uninterrupted, completing its sixth commercial flight within six months in November. Some estimates put Blue Origin’s costs at $100 million annually to maintain and operate the New Shepard rocket, according to Ars Technica. In 2017, Bezos, whose net worth is estimated at $169.8 billion according to Forbes, announced his intention to sell $1 billion worth of Amazon shares each year to fund Blue Origin. The precise price of a ticket aboard New Shepard is not known, but reports from 2018 suggested it could cost at least $200,000. However, the first ticket sold went for $28 million in an online auction in 2021.
What to Watch For
Whether the flight will take place as scheduled. It depends on FAA approval, which has not yet been completed, according to a Bloomberg report that first reported the launch.
Sidebar Note
Blue Origin is also working on its heavy-lift rocket, New Glenn, which has been selected by NASA to transport probes for a future Mars mission. That mission is expected to launch in 2024. Blue Origin has invested more than $2.5 billion in developing the rocket.
Leave a Reply