Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images
A side view of a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launching from Launch Site One in West Texas, north of Van Horn, during a passenger flight on March 31, 2022.
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The first launch in more than a year of Blue Origin's New Shepard tourism rocket, designed to carry paying customers on short trips to the edge of space, was canceled Monday morning.
According to an update posted on
According to the company, New Shepard's launch was initially delayed by an hour on Monday due to cold temperatures at the launch site at Blue Origin's facilities on a private ranch in West Texas.
Blue Origin said it will attempt another launch starting at 11:37 a.m. ET on Tuesday. The launch will be broadcast live on the company's website.
The mission would have marked the rocket's return to flight after Blue Origin spent months recovering from a failed, uncrewed test flight.
A New Shepard rocket and spacecraft were scheduled to launch a suite of scientific instruments on September 12, 2022. But a minute into the flight, the rocket passed Max Q – an aerospace term that refers to a moment of maximum stress on a vehicle at a relatively high speed at low altitude, where the atmosphere is still fairly dense and the rocket moving at almost the speed of sound.
At this time, the rocket appeared to emit a huge burst of flame. The New Shepard capsule sitting on top of the rocket then initiated its launch abort system – firing a small engine to safely launch itself away from the malfunctioning rocket. This system worked as intended and allowed the capsule to land safely using the parachute.
Blue Origin later revealed that the cause of the failure was a problem with the engine nozzle, a large cone that directs burning exhaust gases toward the bottom of the rocket. According to the company, on-board computers accurately detected the error 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.
But the rocket, without a functioning engine, crashed back into the ground and was completely destroyed. After New Shepard launches, the launch vehicle typically lands safely and upright again so it can be flown again.
During an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman on Thursday, Bezos said that the escape system that carried the capsule to safety was the most difficult piece of engineering on the entire rocket – but “for that reason, I feel comfortable letting anyone go on New Shepard.” let.” ”
“The (rocket) booster is as safe and reliable as we can make it,” Bezos added. “The performance density is so enormous that you can never be sure that nothing will go wrong. …The only way to improve security is to have an escape system.
“A tourism vehicle, in my opinion, has to be designed to be as safe as possible,” he said. “You can’t make it completely safe. It is impossible.”
If New Shepard takes off again, success could prompt the company to resume its space travel for adventure seekers.
Before the failure in September 2022, New Shepard rockets had flown 22 consecutive successful missions – including six with passengers on board. Bezos flew aboard the rocket in 2021.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches and is responsible for ensuring public safety, conducted an investigation into the error. The investigation determined that the engine nozzle had failed because the temperature was higher than the company had expected.
To fix the problem, Blue Origin said it made “design changes to the combustion chamber” – the area of the engine where fuel explosively mixes with oxidizer – and adjusted the “operating parameters,” or the data the company uses to model safer Flights used.
“Additional design changes to the nozzle have improved structural performance under thermal and dynamic loads,” the company said in a March statement.
The FAA formally closed the accident investigation on September 27 and outlined 21 “corrective actions” that Blue Origin must take before returning to flight operations. The agency did not provide details about these measures, noting that the report “contains proprietary data and U.S. export controls.” Information and is not available for public release.”
New Shepard's expected return to flight comes as Blue Origin moves to implement another key project: It is developing a giant rocket called New Glenn that can carry satellites and other large payloads into orbit.
This rocket is years overdue. And the same engines that will power New Glenn's rocket booster, the BE-4 engines, will also power a new line of rockets being developed by United Launch Alliance – a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The new United Launch Alliance The Vulcan Centaur rocket is scheduled to launch its first mission in January, carrying a NASA-sponsored lander to the moon.
New Glenn also has an important first launch on the horizon, possibly with a NASA satellite scheduled to study the magnetized region of space around Mars as early as next year.
Bezos admitted in a podcast interview last week that he was “extremely nervous” about the initial launch of New Glenn.
“Every launch I go to, for New Shepard, even for other vehicles, I'm always nervous about those launches,” he said. “A first start – if you weren’t upset about it – would be a sign of confusion.”