WASHINGTON – Blue Origin flew a new model of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle on January 14, a flight the company says brings it “really close” to finally flying people.
The New Shepard vehicle took off from the Blue Origin test site in western Texas at 12:17 pm Eastern time. The capsule of the vehicle’s crew, separating from its booster about two and a half minutes after takeoff, reached a maximum altitude of 107 kilometers before landing under parachutes 10 minutes and 15 seconds after takeoff. The capsule landed a few minutes after the booster made a motorized landing on the edge of its landing platform.
The flight was the first for this capsule, called “RSS First Step” by Blue Origin, as well as for the booster. The capsule featured several modifications designed to support human space flights, such as seats, new communication systems and monitors and environmental control systems to regulate temperature and humidity. “It’s all about updates to the astronaut experience,” said Ariane Cornell, director of sales for astronauts and orbitals at Blue Origin, during the webcast.
Unlike several previous New Shepard flights, this vehicle did not carry scientific payloads. He flew 50,000 postcards sent by students through Club for the Future, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the company.
The company plans to use this spacecraft for future manned flights. “This will be used for astronaut missions,” said Patrick Zeitouni, director of advanced development programs at Blue Origin, in the webcast.
But it is not yet known exactly when these manned flights will begin. In February 2019, company founder Jeff Bezos said he expected the company to start flying with people by the end of that year, but in October the company said it was slowing down plans to ensure the vehicle was ready.
Blue Origin conducted a single New Shepard test flight last year in October, after which the company said it needed “just a few more flights before we start putting humans on board”.
During the webcast, company representatives offered few details about human space flight plans, or even when the company would start selling tickets for commercial flights. Much of the webcast was dedicated to discussing other Blue Origin activities, such as testing its BE-4 engine and working on its lunar module concept for NASA’s Human Landing System program.
After the capsule was safely landed, however, Cornell was optimistic that the company would soon begin transporting people. “We are getting very close to flying humans. We’re getting there, ”she said. “The success of this flight puts us a big step closer to flying astronauts.”