Blue Origin has managed to fabricate a functional solar cell prototype using lunar regolith stimulants. This simulated moon dust is both chemically as well as mineral accurate to the real thing, taking into account for both lunar variability in grain size as well as bulk chemistry.
It’s official, Blue Origin has completed yet another successful launch by blasting its first six-person crew into suborbital space on Saturday (Dec. 11). This New Shepard NS-19 mission also set six other records, including sending the tallest person to fly into space and the first parent-child pair to lift off together. The crew consisted of TV personality / football star Michael Strahan and Laura Shepard Churchley, the oldest daughter of Alan Shepard, the first American astronaut to fly into space.
Blue Origin has partnered with Sierra Space to build Orbital Reef, a commercially developed and operated space station in low Earth orbit. It’s being called a “mixed use business park,” but in space, and with human-centered space architecture as well as world-class services and amenities. The goal is to minimize cost and complexity for both traditional space operators and new arrivals.
William Shatner, best known for playing Captain James T. Kirk on “Star Trek: The Original Series,” has successfully completed a trip to the edge of space aboard Blue Origin’s NS-18 New Shepard rocket. The reusable rocket and capsule lifted off from Blue Origin Launch Site One, located north of the West Texas town of Van Horn, at approximately 9:50 a.m. local time. The ride vehicle completed an 11-minute flight, four of which let the crew experience weightlessness in outer space, before returning to land.
Priced at $69.99, the Estes New Shepard model rocket is modeled after its real-life counterpart, but at 1/66th scale. It’s fully reusable and follows the same flight profile as the actual rocket, which means that the capsule is payload-capable and separates from the booster near its apogee of approximately 400-feet. The rocket then safely floats back to Earth under a parachute for touchdown.
Blue Origin’s long awaited first human flight was a success today when New Shepard launched four private citizens – Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen – beyond the Kármán Line, the internationally recognized boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space at 330,000-feet. After landing, the astronauts were greeted by their families as well as Blue Origin’s ground operations team in the West Texas desert for a celebration. Read more for two videos and additional information.
Blue Origin announced today that 18-year-old physics student Oliver Daemen will be the first paying customer to fly on board New Shepard, marking the beginning of commercial operations for the program. He’ll be joined by Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, and Wally Funk aboard New Shepard’s first human flight on July 20th. This sudden replacement came about when the original winner of Blue Origin’s auction chose to fly on a future New Shepard mission due to scheduling conflicts.
Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk is not only an aerospace pioneer, but also the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, the first female civilian flight instructor at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and the first female Federal Aviation Agency inspector. Jeff Bezos announced today that she will be joining him on Blue Origin’s first human flight to the edge of space aboard a New Shepard spacecraft.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos officially announced today that he and his brother Mark will be joining the winner of the Blue Origin auction on New Shepard’s first human flight on July 20th. This fully reusable, vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) space vehicle has two main parts: a pressurized crew capsule and a propulsion module. This spacecraft is controlled entirely by on-board computers, without requiring a ground control crew or human pilots. Read more for a video and additional information.
You may have see Elon Musk in the Cybertruck at the Tesla Austin gigafactory, but Jeff Bezos wasn’t about to be shown up by the SpaceX CEO. So, he visited the Blue Origin’s latest landing of its New Shepard rocket at its West Texas facility in a Rivian R1T electric pickup truck. However, this trip wasn’t about seeing progress on the site, but rather to promote ticket sales for suborbital tourist rides on New Shepard, which begin later this week on May 5.