On December 19, Jeff Bezos’s aerospace company Blue Origin successfully launched its New Shepard rocket, marking the company’s return after facing a setback more than a year ago related to an uncrewed spacecraft launch.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifts off from Launch Site One, near the town of Van Horn, Texas, USA, on March 31, 2022.
The New Shepard rocket departed from Launch Site One, located near Van Horn, Texas, at 10:42 AM local time (11:42 PM the same day in Vietnam). After separating from the rocket’s booster stage, the uncrewed spacecraft reached a maximum altitude of 107 kilometers above sea level, significantly higher than the internationally recognized boundary of space at 99.8 kilometers, known as the Kármán line. The booster later landed in the Sierra Diablo mountain range. This rocket is designed for reuse in future launches.
Although the New Shepard rocket’s mission involved launching a spacecraft carrying a large amount of scientific equipment without any crew, this mission paves the way for Blue Origin to continue offering wealthy thrill-seekers the opportunity to experience this unique flight. Scientific experiments onboard included a test demonstrating the operation of fuel cell technology in a microgravity environment and another experiment exploring how water and gas behave in a weightless setting.
On September 12, 2022, a Blue Origin rocket nearly caught fire shortly after liftoff. The spacecraft, which was attached to the rocket, successfully executed an emergency separation and landed safely on the ground. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been investigating the cause of this incident for over a year. The investigation revealed that a faulty engine nozzle caused the operating temperature to exceed expected levels. The FAA required Blue Origin to implement corrective measures, including redesigning certain engine components, before resuming spacecraft launches.
Since July 2021, Blue Origin has conducted a total of six crewed spacecraft launches, sending 31 people into space, including billionaire Jeff Bezos and actor William Shatner.
