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Blue Origin’s tourism rocket is preparing to launch passengers to the edge of space for the first time in nearly two years, ending a hiatus caused by a failed uncrewed test flight.
The New Shepard rocket and capsule are set to lift off during a window at 8:30 a.m. CT (9:30 a.m. ET) from Blue Origin’s facilities on a private ranch in West Texas. Live streaming of the mission, called NS-25, will begin around 7:50 a.m. CT (8:50 a.m. ET) on the website of the company founded by Jeff Bezos.
NS-25, Blue Origin’s seventh crewed flight to date, will carry six customers aboard the capsule: venture capitalist Mason Angel; Sylvain Chiron, founder of French craft brewery Brasserie Mont-Blanc; software engineer and entrepreneur Kenneth L. Hess; retired accountant Carol Schaller; aviator Gopi Thotakura; and retired U.S. Air Force captain Ed Dwight, who was selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as the nation’s first Black astronaut candidate.
Despite completing training at the Aerospace Research Pilot School and receiving an Air Force recommendation, Dwight ultimately failed to enter the NASA Astronaut Corps. He went on to become an entrepreneur and sculptor; “Space Race,” a new National Geographic documentary about black astronauts, highlights Dwight’s pioneering story.
“I had no intention of becoming an astronaut. “That was the last thing on my to-do list,” Dwight said in the documentary. “But when I’m given this challenge, everything changes.”
According to a spokesperson from Blue Origin, Dwight will complete the challenge and reach the edge of space at the age of 90, making him the oldest person to venture this high.
During the mission, the crew will fly at more than three times the speed of sound, or more than 2,000 miles per hour. The rocket will jump the capsule past the Kármán line, an area 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface. It is widely accepted as the height where space begins, but there is a lot of gray area.
At the top of the flight, passengers will experience several minutes of weightlessness and stunning views of Earth from the cabin windows.
The launch follows the success of an uncrewed science mission in December, the New Shepard program’s first flight since the crash more than a year ago.
New Shepard’s failure in 2022
A New Shepard rocket and spacecraft are set to launch a suite of science instruments on September 12, 2022. But one minute into the flight, the rocket hit Max Q, an aviation term that refers to the moment of maximum stress on a vehicle. It occurs when the rocket is at a relatively low altitude (where the atmosphere is still quite thick) but the spacecraft is moving at high speeds, creating a momentary intense pressure on the vehicle.
At that time, the rocket was seen emitting a large burst of flame. The New Shepard capsule aboard the rocket then initiated the launch abort system and started a small engine to safely distance itself from the faulty rocket. This system worked as intended and parachuted the capsule into a safe landing.
Blue Origin later revealed that the cause of the failure was a problem with the engine nozzle, a large cone that directs flaming exhaust at the bottom of the rocket. According to the company, onboard computers correctly detected the malfunction and shut down the engine.
No injuries were reported on the ground, and Blue Origin said the science payloads and capsule could be flown again.
However, the rocket, which was left without an engine, crashed to the ground. and was destroyed. Typically, after New Shepard is launched, its rocket booster guides itself into a safe steep descent so it can fly again.
In an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman in December, Bezos said that the escape system that ejects the capsule to safety was the most difficult piece of engineering in the entire rocket, but “that’s the reason I’m comfortable letting everyone go to New Shepard.”
“The (rocket) booster is as safe and reliable as we can make it,” Bezos added. “The power density is so great that it is impossible to be sure that nothing will go wrong. …So the only way to increase security is to have an escape system.
“In my opinion, a tourist vehicle should be designed to be as safe as possible,” he said. “You can’t make this completely safe. This is impossible.”
Rocket repair and return to service
The Federal Aviation Administration, which authorizes commercial rocket launches and is charged with ensuring public safety, oversaw an investigation into the failure. The probe revealed that the engine nozzle had failed due to exposure to higher temperatures than the company expected.
To fix the problem, Blue Origin said it implemented “design changes to the combustion chamber” (the area of the engine where fuel mixes explosively with oxidizer) and adjusted “operating parameters,” or data the company uses to model safe flights.
“Additional design changes to the nozzle improved structural performance under thermal and dynamic loads,” the company said in a March 2023 statement.
The FAA officially concluded its accident investigation on September 27, 2023, outlining 21 “corrective actions” that Blue Origin must implement before returning to flight. The agency did not disclose details of what those actions were, stating that the report “contains proprietary data and U.S. Export Control.” It is information and is not disclosed to the public.”
The changes and the successful flight of New Shephard in December enabled the company to restart space excursions for thrill seekers.
Before the failure in September 2022, New Shepard rockets had flown 22 consecutive successful missions, including six with passengers. Bezos rode the rocket in 2021. Other notable space tourists the vehicle has previously carried include “Star Trek” actor William Shatner and “Good Morning America” host Michael Strahan.
CNN’s Madeline Holcombe contributed to this report.
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