The epic return of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket
After more than a year of waiting following an accident, the company Blue Origin founded by Jeff Bezos is back in space. Last Tuesday, the New Shepard rocket successfully took off from Texas, marking a victory for the American company.
This flight marks an important milestone for Blue Origin, which plans to resume its space tourism operations. So far, 31 wealthy individuals have been taken for minutes-long trips aboard the New Shepard, including the founder himself, Jeff Bezos.
The NS-24 mission, which took place without human passengers on board, transported scientific equipment, more than half of which came from NASA. The mission capsule managed to land gently in the western American desert, 10 minutes after takeoff.
This feat erases the memories of an incident which occurred in September 2022, where the rocket’s propulsion stage suffered an accident. Following this incident, Blue Origin had to make changes to its systems, in accordance with FAA requirements. With the approval of the amended flight license, the company is finally ready to resume space operations.
Blue Origin faces fierce competition in the field of space tourism, notably with Virgin Galactic, founded by Richard Branson. Virgin Galactic recently made its first commercial flight in August, with a spacecraft launched from a carrier aircraft. However, Blue Origin also has other promising projects in the pipeline, including the New Glenn heavy launcher, whose first flight is planned for 2024.
With this successful return to space, Blue Origin positions itself as a key player in the space tourism industry. The interstellar adventures of Jeff Bezos and company are only just beginning, and we can’t wait to see what new frontiers they explore in the coming years.