posted 10-04-2024 08:49 AM               

Blue Origin Debuts Second Human-Rated New Shepard Rocket To Meet Demand

Blue Origin's next New Shepard flight, NS-27, will debut our second human-rated vehicle, enabling expanded flight capacity to better meet growing customer demand. The launch window for the uncrewed verification flight opens on Monday, October 7, at 8:00 AM CDT / 13:00 UTC. The webcast will begin 15 minutes before liftoff on BlueOrigin.com.

The new crew capsule is named RSS Kármán line. The vehicle features technology upgrades to improve the vehicle's performance and reusability, an updated livery, and accommodations for payloads on the booster. New Shepard remains one of the most sustainable rockets ever to fly to space. Nearly 99% of New Shepard's dry mass is reused, including the booster, capsule, engine, landing gear, and parachutes.

NS-27 will fly 12 payloads—five on the booster and seven inside the crew capsule. Payloads include new navigation systems developed for New Shepard and New Glenn; two different LIDAR sensors for the Lunar Permanence program; ultra-wideband proximity operations sensors flying as part of a NASA TechFlights grant with Blue Origin's Space Systems Development group; and a commercial payload that is a reproduction of black monoliths from "2001: A Space Odyssey." The monoliths are flying on behalf of Spacemanic for a special edition printed by Croatian publisher Amaranthine Books.

The mission will also carry tens of thousands of student-designed postcards on behalf of Club for the Future, Blue Origin's STEAM-focused nonprofit whose mission is to inspire and mobilize future generations to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. The organization has engaged more than 43 million students globally since its founding in 2019. Students can submit digital postcards here.

posted 10-06-2024 11:35 AM               

NS-27 is targeting liftoff tomorrow [Oct 7]. The launch window for this uncrewed verification flight opens at 8:00 AM CDT / 13:00 UTC. Webcast begins at 7:45 AM CDT on BlueOrigin.com.

posted 10-07-2024 07:22 AM               

The launch team is working through the countdown procedures for our new vehicle and we’re adjusting our launch window to open at 11:10 AM CDT / 16:10 UTC. The webcast will begin 15 minutes prior to liftoff.

Update: New Shepard is going through final checks in advance of today’s uncrewed verification flight. We’re running a bit ahead of schedule. The NS-27 launch window will open at 11:00 AM CDT / 16:00 UTC.

posted 10-07-2024 12:07 PM               

We're standing down on today's launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle issue that would've taken us beyond our launch window. New launch target forthcoming.

posted 10-12-2024 03:26 PM               

New Shepard's updated target launch date is Sunday, October 13. The NS-27 window opens at 7:30 a.m. CDT / 12:30 UTC from Launch Site One.

posted 10-13-2024 08:49 AM               

We're standing down on today's (Oct. 13) launch attempt to troubleshoot a GPS issue. New launch target forthcoming.

posted 10-20-2024 08:30 PM               

New Shepard's updated target launch date is Wednesday, October 23. The NS-27 launch window opens at 10:00 AM CDT / 15:00 UTC from Launch Site One.

posted 10-23-2024 07:22 AM               

Blue Origin's next New Shepard flight, NS-27, is an uncrewed verification flight debuting our second human-rated vehicle. The new vehicle will expand flight capacity to better meet growing customer demand.

posted 10-23-2024 12:46 PM               

Blue Origin Completes 27th Mission; Debuts New Human-Rated Vehicle

Today, Blue Origin's 27th mission debuted the second human-rated vehicle for the New Shepard program, enabling expanded flight capacity to better meet growing customer demand.

"We look forward to welcoming crew onboard RSS Kármán Line soon and offering the New Shepard flight experience to people across the world from all backgrounds," said Phil Joyce, SVP, New Shepard. "On every New Shepard mission, we've witnessed people return to Earth changed by this experience, and with a renewed sense of commitment to preserve our planet."

The flight carried five payloads on the booster and seven inside the crew capsule, including tens of thousands of postcards flying as part of Club for the Future's Postcards to Space program. Each postcard will be returned to its creator stamped "Flown to Space."

Flight statistics

• The crew capsule reached an apogee 332,408 ft AGL / 336,055 ft MSL (101 km AGL / 102 km MSL)

• The booster reached an apogee of 332,046 ft AGL / 335,693 ft MSL (101 km AGL / 102 km MSL)

• Official launch time was 10:26:02 AM CDT / 15:26:02 UTC. Capsule landing occurred at 10:36:06 AM CDT / 15:36:06 UTC

• The mission elapsed time was 10 min 4 sec
  The max ascent velocity was 2,158 mph / 3,473 km/h