Blue Origin launched its ninth crewed New Shepard mission to space on Friday, sending a six-person crew for a brief visit 107 km above the Earth from the company’s spaceport outside of Van Horn, TX.
New Shepard’s four flights in 2024 match 2022 as the second-busiest year for the vehicle since the six flights during its qualification campaign in 2021.
The Grand Tour: The capsule carried four first-time astronauts, and two people making their second trip past the Kármán line. Passengers included a science influencer (who became the 100th woman to go to space), a real estate developer and his wife, two successful entrepreneurs, and a contest winner.
Blue has flown forty-seven people aboard the suborbital vehicle, which is the only option for a short hop out of the atmosphere while Virgin Orbit halts operations to develop its next generation rocketplane.
High demand? Blue Origin hasn’t said how much it costs to fly on New Shepard and has declined requests to talk about its space tourism business. But it has said demand is growing for its suborbital flights. In July, SERA, a company planning an international space reality competition, said it had purchased a flight of the capsule expected sometime next year.
Blue debuted its second human-rated New Shepard capsule, RSS Kármán Line, with an uncrewed flight in October.
When Glenn? Blue Origin has said that its New Glenn rocket will finally reach orbit this month, and it put the fully-integrated launch vehicle on a launch pad for the first time last week. The next step is a static fire test, but it’s not clear if the company can complete that before the end of November, making another delay likely.
