Today [April 29, 2015] we flew the first developmental test flight of our New Shepard space vehicle.
Our 110,000-lbf thrust liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen BE-3 engine worked flawlessly, powering New Shepard through Mach 3 to its planned test altitude of 307,000 feet [58.1 miles or 93.6 kilometers]. Guidance, navigation and control was nominal throughout max Q and all of ascent. The in-space separation of the crew capsule from the propulsion module was perfect. Any astronauts on board would have had a very nice journey into space and a smooth return.
In fact, if New Shepard had been a traditional expendable vehicle, this would have been a flawless first test flight. Of course one of our goals is reusability, and unfortunately we didn't get to recover the propulsion module because we lost pressure in our hydraulic system on descent. Fortunately, we've already been in work for some time on an improved hydraulic system. Also, assembly of propulsion module serial numbers 2 and 3 is already underway – we'll be ready to fly again soon.
We continue to be big fans of the vertical takeoff, vertical landing architecture. We chose VTVL because it's scalable to very large size. We're already designing New Shepard's sibling, her Very Big Brother – an orbital launch vehicle that is many times New Shepard's size and is powered by our 550,000-lbf thrust liquefied natural gas, liquid oxygen BE-4 engine.
Can't wait to fly again – Gradatim Ferociter!
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GACspaceguy Member
Posts: 2595 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
posted 04-30-2015 04:33 AM
WOW, fantastic!
issman1 Member
Posts: 1066 From: UK Registered: Apr 2005
posted 04-30-2015 03:40 PM
Nice to see a new space launch/transportation system making its debut — and without the fanfare that seems to accompany a certain other company.
yeknom-ecaps Member
Posts: 693 From: Northville MI USA Registered: Aug 2005
posted 05-02-2015 12:19 PM
All the articles say it landed in the west Texas desert... where would that be?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 44739 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-02-2015 12:28 PM
Blue Origin's test facility is located near Van Horn, Texas. Their launch pad is about an hour north of the town.