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From their isolated launch pad just north of Van Horn, officials with Blue Origin – Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ private space access company – announced the successful launch and recovery of their ‘New Shepard’ spacecraft.

During this mission, known as Mission 9 (M9), the escape motor was fired shortly after booster separation. The Crew Capsule was pushed hard by the escape test and we stressed the rocket to test that astronauts can get away from an anomaly at any time during flight.

Blue Origin officials said, “The mission was a success for both the booster and capsule. Most importantly, astronauts would have had an exhilarating ride and safe landing.”

According to officials, the test on M9 allowed their crews to finally characterize escape motor performance in the near-vacuum of space and guarantee that they can safely return our astronauts in any phase of flight.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve done this type of extreme testing on New Shepard. In October of 2012, we simulated a booster failure on the launch pad and had a successful escape…in October of 2016, we simulated a booster failure in-flight at Max Q, which is the most physically strenuous point in the flight for the rocket, and had a completely successful escape of the capsule.”

Also on M9, officials pointed out that New Shepard carried science and research payloads from commercial companies, universities and space agencies.

On Sunday, Blue Origin’s New Shepard Capsule flew again for the eighth time from the West Texas Launch Site just outside of Van Horn, some 125 miles east of El Paso.

Known as Mission 8 (M8), the weekend mission featured a reflight of the vehicle flown on Mission 7.

According to Blue Origin officials, “The Crew Capsule reached an apogee of 351,000 feet (66 miles, 107 kilometers) – the altitude we’ve been targeting for operations.”

“We look forward to sharing upcoming test flights as we continue our progress toward human spaceflight,” officials added.

For the second time, Blue Origin’s test dummy “Mannequin Skywalker” flew to space conducting astronaut telemetry and science studies. In addition to ‘Mannequin’, the flight also carried research payloads for a number of customers.

The payloads represented a range of users, from NASA’s Johnson Space Center to a small commercial communications firm, as well as Blue Origin’s first European customers, funded by the German national space agency, DLR.

Each of the payloads has been outfitted with a custom Blue Origin Payload Locker to provide structural, power, and data interfaces throughout the flight.  To learn more about the payloads click here.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ New Shepard flew again for the seventh time from Blue Origin’s West Texas Launch Site near Van Horn, Texas.

Known as Mission 7 (M7), the mission featured the next-generation booster and the first flight of Crew Capsule 2.0.

Crew Capsule 2.0 features large windows, measuring 2.4 feet wide, 3.6 feet tall. M7 also included 12 commercial, research and education payloads onboard.

According to Blue Origin officials, Crew Capsule 2.0 reached an apogee of 322,405 feet AGL/326,075 feet MSL (98.27 kilometers AGL/99.39 kilometers MSL).

The booster reached an apogee of 322,032 feet AGL/325,702 feet MSL (98.16 kilometers AGL/99.27 kilometers MSL).

Almost two months to the day that Jeff Bezos’ New Shepard spacecraft was launched and returned safely to the pad in far West Texas, the same ship made history once again on Friday, repeating the feat.

Via a news release and video on his Blue Origin website, Bezos announced the successful launch and return of the prototype spacecraft.

“The very same New Shepard booster that flew above the Karman line and then landed vertically at its launch site last November has now flown and landed again, demonstrating reuse,” Bezos wrote on Friday evening.  He went on to say that, ” This time, New Shepard reached an apogee of 333,582 feet (101.7 kilometers) before both capsule and booster gently returned to Earth for recovery and reuse.”

According to the website, data from the November mission matched their preflight predictions closely, which made preparations for Friday’s re-flight relatively straightforward.

Bezos’ statement goes on to say, “The team replaced the crew capsule parachutes, replaced the pyro igniters, conducted functional and avionics checkouts, and made several software improvements, including a noteworthy one. Rather than the vehicle translating to land at the exact center of the pad, it now initially targets the center, but then sets down at a position of convenience on the pad, prioritizing vehicle attitude ahead of precise lateral positioning. It’s like a pilot lining up a plane with the centerline of the runway. If the plane is a few feet off center as you get close, you don’t swerve at the last minute to ensure hitting the exact mid-point. You just land a few feet left or right of the centerline. Our Monte Carlo sims of New Shepard landings show this new strategy increases margins, improving the vehicle’s ability to reject disturbances created by low-altitude winds.”

To read Bezos’ entire statement, click HERE.  For those wanting to stay up to date with all the  work at Blue Origin, readers can sign up for email updates at www.blueorigin.com/interested

On Tuesday, Blue Origin that its New Shepard space vehicle successfully flew to space, reaching its planned test altitude of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers) before executing a historic landing back at the launch site in West Texas.

“Now safely tucked away at our launch site in West Texas is the rarest of beasts—a used rocket,” said Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin. “Blue Origin’s reusable New Shepard space vehicle flew a flawless mission—soaring to 329,839 feet and then returning through 119-mph high-altitude crosswinds to make a gentle, controlled landing just four and a half feet from the center of the pad. Full reuse is a game changer, and we can’t wait to fuel up and fly again.”

Named in honor of the first American in space, Alan Shepard, the New Shepard vertical takeoff and vertical landing vehicle will carry six astronauts to altitudes beyond 100 kilometers, the internationally-recognized boundary of space. Blue Origin astronauts will experience the thrill of launch atop a rocket, the freedom of weightlessness, and views through the largest windows to ever fly in space.

An animation of the Blue Origin astronaut experience can be found at www.blueorigin.com/astronaut-experience. Astronaut flights will begin following completion of a methodical flight test program.

The New Shepard space vehicle is fully reusable and operated from Blue Origin’s West Texas launch site. The vehicle is comprised of two elements—a crew capsule in which the astronauts ride and a rocket booster powered by a single American-made BE-3 liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen engine. At liftoff, the BE-3 delivers 110,000 pounds of thrust.

During ascent, astronauts experience 3x the force of gravity as the spacecraft accelerates through the atmosphere.

Following powered flight, the crew capsule separates from the booster and coasts into space, providing several minutes of weightlessness. As the crew capsule descends, it reenters the atmosphere with astronauts experiencing about 5x the force of gravity before deploying three main parachutes for landing.

Meanwhile, the booster descends under guided flight to the landing pad. Just prior to landing, the booster re-ignites its BE-3 engine which slows the vehicle to 4.4 mph for a gentle, powered vertical landing, enabling vehicle reuse.

Flight Details

• Launched at 11:21 a.m. Central Time, November 23, 2015
• Apogee of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers) for the crew capsule
• Mach 3.72
• Re-ignition of rocket booster at 4,896 feet above ground level
• Controlled vertical landing of the booster at 4.4 mph
• Deployment of crew capsule drogue parachutes at 20,045 feet above ground level
• Landing of the crew capsule under parachutes at 11:32 a.m. Central Time

Blue Origin, LLC (Blue Origin) is a private company developing vehicles and technologies to enable commercial human space transportation. Blue Origin has a long-term vision of greatly increasing the number of people that fly into space so that we humans can better continue exploring the solar system. For more information and a list of job openings, please visit us at www.blueorigin.com

To receive updates on Blue Origin’s continuing progress and early access to ticketing information, sign up at www.blueorigin.com/interested

View more mission images here

Author: Blue Origin