Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin may try again to launch its New Shepard rocket into space next week after grounding it for more than 15 months due to a mid-flight failure.
The company said on X Tuesday that it’s targeting a launch window starting on December 18 for the mission. When the rocket eventually takes to the skies, it will carry 33 science and research payloads — instruments designed to collect data — and 38,000 postcards from Clubs for the Future, a nonprofit founded by Blue Origin.
The New Shepard has been grounded since September 2022 after a mission was aborted early due to a sudden issue mid-flight. According to a September 2023 report from the Federal Aviation Administration, it was due to a “structural failure of an engine nozzle caused by higher than expected engine operating temperatures.” The FAA prescribed 21 corrective actions to the vehicle, including redesigning the nozzle and engine components.
Blue Origin has made adjustments, including design changes, Phil Joyce, a senior vice president at Blue Origin who oversees the New Shepard, told employees, according to Bloomberg.
Blue Origin
Getting the New Shepard back in the air would also be a step forward for the Amazon founder in the billionaire space race. Bezos, who launched Blue Origin in 2000 with an aim to subsidize space travel and eventually colonize the solar system, competes with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
All three are seeking to dominate space tourism, with Bloomberg reporting SpaceX’s value is close to $180 billion. Meantime, Musk’s biographer recently said the billionaire wants Bezos to “get out of his hot tub and yacht,” and focus his efforts on Blue Origin.
The New Shepard is one of three space vehicles, including the New Glenn and Blue Moon, developed by Blue Origin. It’s designed to take people and payloads past the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space, according to Blue Origin. The fully autonomous vehicle is designed to accommodate at least six astronauts and has had 22 successful consecutive missions since it began flight testing in 2012, according to Blue Origin.
Blue Origin did not immediately respond to BI’s request for a comment.
