blue originNew Shepard has officially resumed operations, with the company today successfully launching a suborbital rocket for the first time in more than 15 months.
The rocket lifted off from the Blue Origin launch site in west Texas at around 10:42 a.m. local time. The mission, named NS-24 to commemorate its 24th launch, carried 33 payloads for a wide range of customers, including NASA, Honeybee Robotics, and the nonprofit research and engineering company Draper. The mission was successfully completed in her 10 minutes, and the capsule returned safely to Earth after a short suborbital flight.
The company had originally targeted a Monday launch, but canceled the launch due to “ground system issues.” Blue Origin did not elaborate further on the specific issue.
This will be Blue Origin’s first New Shepard launch since September 2022, when an anomaly caused an automatic abort mid-flight. The capsule, which had no people on board at the time, was ejected from its booster and landed on Earth via parachute, but the booster was destroyed. The company discovered an issue with the engine nozzle that caused higher than normal operating temperatures.
Blue flew New Shepard four times in 2022, including a failed launch. Phil Joyce, Blue’s senior vice president for the New Shepard program, said in a statement after the launch that the company will fly the rocket more frequently next year. In 2024, the flight rhythm will improve,” he said.
Erica Wagner, Blue Origin’s senior director, said on the launch livestream that the company looks forward to flying its next crewed flight “soon.” There is no doubt that prospects breathed a sigh of relief when they saw another successful flight recorded on the blue belt.
Watch the launch again here:
Source: techcrunch.com
