Text | mary whitfill roeloffs
On Tuesday morning local time, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin successfully launched an unmanned tourist rocket in West Texas, its first successful launch since the failure of the New Shepard program 15 months ago and angered the Federal Administration of the United States.
Key facts
The New Shepard was launched Tuesday at 10:43 a.m. ET with 33 scientific and research payloads, the technology to collect data and conduct experiments in space, and 380,000 postcards.
The New Shepard reached its maximum altitude of 351247 feet about 4 minutes after liftoff, then began its descent back to Earth, and finally landed 7 minutes and 28 seconds after launch.
The mission's success is a significant step forward in Blue Origin's plan to send paying visitors to the edge of space, which has already sent more than 20 visitors, including Bezos himself, "Good Morning America" co-anchor Michael Strahan, and "Star Trek" actor William Shatner.
Blue Origin said the New Shepard was originally scheduled to take off on Monday, but the launch was canceled a few hours after the scheduled time due to "ground system issues."
The launch was the first since the launch failed in September 2022 when the New Shepard failed because of a malfunctioning engine nozzle that caused a large amount of flame to erupt about a minute after flight.
Despite engine problems on that launch, the launch abort system allowed the New Shepard's capsule to disengage from the faulty rocket and land safely by parachute. But that failure still led the FAA to launch an investigation into Blue Origin and enact 21 corrective actions for the company, including redesigning the engine and nozzle assembly.
Key Context
According to Blue Origin**, the New Shepard spacecraft was developed for space tourism and is designed to carry six people on an 11-minute space flight. The exact ** aboard the New Shepard is unknown, but in a 2021 online auction, the spacecraft's first-ever ticket was sold for $28 million. In an interview with podcast host Lex Friedman last week, Bezos said that 31 people had successfully lifted off on the New Shepard, but that last year's failure was "exactly why I'm willing to let anyone on the New Shepard." According to Ars Technica, Blue Origin spends $100 million a year to maintain and operate its New Shepard rocket.
Important remarks
Bezos told Friedman on a podcast, "We made the [rocket] booster as safe and reliable as possible ......The power density (of the rocket) is so great that it is impossible to ensure that nothing will go wrong. Therefore, the only way to improve safety is to set up an escape system. You can't be 100% safe. It's impossible. ”
Big numbers
$3.4 billion. That's the value of Blue Origin's contract with NASA to provide lunar lander services for the latter's Artemis program, which will send more U.S. astronauts to the moon this decade.
Forbes' valuation
As of Tuesday, Bezos was the third richest person in the world, with a net worth of $176 billion, we estimate. In September 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin and has since become a defense contractor and a leader in space technology, alongside Elon Musk's SpaceX and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.
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