Discussion
Blue Origin’s next New Shepard flight is targeting liftoff tomorrow, January 14, at 9:45 AM CST / 15:45 UTC from Launch Site One in West Texas. Mission NS-14 is the 14th flight for the New Shepard program.
For this mission, the crew capsule will be outfitted with upgrades for the astronaut experience as the program nears human space flight. The upgrades include improvements to environmental features such as acoustics and temperature regulation inside the capsule, crew display panels, and speakers with a microphone and push-to-talk button at each seat. The mission will also test a number of astronaut communication and safety alert systems. The capsule will be outfitted with six seats, including one occupied by Mannequin Skywalker.
Also inside the capsule, Blue Origin’s nonprofit Club for the Future will fly more than 50,000 postcards to space and back from students around the globe. A selection of postcards will fly in Mannequin Skywalker’s pockets. This is the third batch of Club for the Future postcards flown to space. To participate in the postcard program, go here.
All mission crew supporting this launch are exercising strict social distancing and safety measures to mitigate COVID-19 risks to personnel, customers, and surrounding communities.
Launch coverage begins at T-30 minutes on BlueOrigin.com. Follow @BlueOrigin on Twitter for launch updates.
—Gradatim Ferociter
For this mission, the crew capsule will be outfitted with upgrades for the astronaut experience as the program nears human space flight. The upgrades include improvements to environmental features such as acoustics and temperature regulation inside the capsule, crew display panels, and speakers with a microphone and push-to-talk button at each seat. The mission will also test a number of astronaut communication and safety alert systems. The capsule will be outfitted with six seats, including one occupied by Mannequin Skywalker.
Also inside the capsule, Blue Origin’s nonprofit Club for the Future will fly more than 50,000 postcards to space and back from students around the globe. A selection of postcards will fly in Mannequin Skywalker’s pockets. This is the third batch of Club for the Future postcards flown to space. To participate in the postcard program, go here.
All mission crew supporting this launch are exercising strict social distancing and safety measures to mitigate COVID-19 risks to personnel, customers, and surrounding communities.
Launch coverage begins at T-30 minutes on BlueOrigin.com. Follow @BlueOrigin on Twitter for launch updates.
—Gradatim Ferociter
The livestream of the latest test launch of New Shepard is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9oTZu2HP8U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9oTZu2HP8U
Einion Yrth said:
If the tourists are expected to pull the thick end of 12G on the way down, I doubt there'll be many tickets sold.
And also on the way up. The Redstone gave the occupant a bit of a rough ride.I was thinking more of the capability of the rocket regarding where it could take its occupants rather than how comfortable the experience might be.
I would like to see Blue Origin actually start this service and then get a move on with its genuine space projects. They still haven't flown any sort of orbital mission.
I hadn't realised they're currently just going straight up and down, hardly any horizontal speed at all, the landing point was only a couple of miles from the launch.
I didn't watch the whole thing, do we know what the purpose of the flight was? Just commissioning a new rocket or were they testing some new components?
I didn't watch the whole thing, do we know what the purpose of the flight was? Just commissioning a new rocket or were they testing some new components?
RizzoTheRat said:
I hadn't realised they're currently just going straight up and down, hardly any horizontal speed at all, the landing point was only a couple of miles from the launch.
I didn't watch the whole thing, do we know what the purpose of the flight was? Just commissioning a new rocket or were they testing some new components?
I think this particular vehicle has done 7 or 8 of these now. We're all waiting for some passengers right? I think they sell some space currently for micro gravity experiments to various people, including NASA.I didn't watch the whole thing, do we know what the purpose of the flight was? Just commissioning a new rocket or were they testing some new components?
It was a new rocket, but it was really a test of the final capsule design for customer use. So all 6 seats, fixtures & fittings etc.
They don't want sideways movement with this as it's not going to orbit anyway. Just a straight up & down joyride.
The booster had to fight it to land safely. The engine was gimballing like mad.
Apparently SpaceX's big Superheavy booster will be able to hover like that too. Unlike the Falcon 9 booster, which is really just a controlled fall.
That's why they think they can land it precisely back on the launch pad.
They don't want sideways movement with this as it's not going to orbit anyway. Just a straight up & down joyride.
The booster had to fight it to land safely. The engine was gimballing like mad.
Apparently SpaceX's big Superheavy booster will be able to hover like that too. Unlike the Falcon 9 booster, which is really just a controlled fall.
That's why they think they can land it precisely back on the launch pad.
The hype begins: Blue Origin shows off the factory where they're making New Glenn:
https://youtu.be/iXOXKfarFhg
The Tank Cleaning and Processing Facility:
https://youtu.be/KQJj1_ad3FY
And also their launchpad - Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36
https://youtu.be/PuckWaCJPWg
Yeah it's big and undeniably impressive. Interesting that they've built crew access capability for potential manned flights with New Glenn
https://youtu.be/iXOXKfarFhg
The Tank Cleaning and Processing Facility:
https://youtu.be/KQJj1_ad3FY
And also their launchpad - Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36
https://youtu.be/PuckWaCJPWg
Yeah it's big and undeniably impressive. Interesting that they've built crew access capability for potential manned flights with New Glenn
Beati Dogu said:
The hype begins: Blue Origin shows off the factory where they're making New Glenn:
https://youtu.be/iXOXKfarFhg
The Tank Cleaning and Processing Facility:
https://youtu.be/KQJj1_ad3FY
And also their launchpad - Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36
https://youtu.be/PuckWaCJPWg
Yeah it's big and undeniably impressive. Interesting that they've built crew access capability for potential manned flights with New Glenn
I'd rather see them do a sub orbital with someone onboard New Shephard....... they seem to have it nailed, so why nothing?https://youtu.be/iXOXKfarFhg
The Tank Cleaning and Processing Facility:
https://youtu.be/KQJj1_ad3FY
And also their launchpad - Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36
https://youtu.be/PuckWaCJPWg
Yeah it's big and undeniably impressive. Interesting that they've built crew access capability for potential manned flights with New Glenn
They have a different approach to SpaceX, but I'm not sure why it is so slow? Any ideas?
Beati Dogu said:
The hype begins: Blue Origin shows off the factory where they're making New Glenn:
https://youtu.be/iXOXKfarFhg
The Tank Cleaning and Processing Facility:
https://youtu.be/KQJj1_ad3FY
And also their launchpad - Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36
https://youtu.be/PuckWaCJPWg
Yeah it's big and undeniably impressive. Interesting that they've built crew access capability for potential manned flights with New Glenn
I had a look at that this morning.https://youtu.be/iXOXKfarFhg
The Tank Cleaning and Processing Facility:
https://youtu.be/KQJj1_ad3FY
And also their launchpad - Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36
https://youtu.be/PuckWaCJPWg
Yeah it's big and undeniably impressive. Interesting that they've built crew access capability for potential manned flights with New Glenn
It interesting to compare and contrast with SpaceX on Starship.
The modus oprendi does look more like NASA and traditional supply chain in that they have built a facility, it all built to aerospace industry standards with lots of very expensive and bespoke tooling all done up front before the first rocket is made. (In fairness the SpaceX Falcon lines look not dissimilar)
I did wonder if their mock-up cost them more than SpaceX would pay to build one of their actual Starships!
The real acid test will be how they run the facilities once up and running, what SpaceX are currently demonstrating is that the cash burn rate of a rocket production facility is about the same whether you produce 1 rocket every month or every two years.
Still New Glenn is very impressive
Interesting article here about Blue Origins plans and lack of progress:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/03/so-what-re...
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/03/so-what-re...
That article sounds about right to me. ULA’s Vulcan rocket, which uses two BE-4s is probably the rocket Blue Origin should have built before New Glenn. They need to get that BE-4 engine working properly more than anything right now. If an engine failure screws up Vulcan’s demo flight, it’s not going to look good.
ULA have flown much of Vulcan’s hardware already on other rockets. From the boosters to the flight computers to even the fairings. The biggest unknown on the whole system is those main engines.
ULA have flown much of Vulcan’s hardware already on other rockets. From the boosters to the flight computers to even the fairings. The biggest unknown on the whole system is those main engines.
Edited by Beati Dogu on Tuesday 2nd March 19:23
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