Jeff Bezos’ space venture Blue Origin plans to return its suborbital New Shepard rocket to flight as soon as Dec. 18, the company said on Tuesday as it will continue its space tourism business.
“We are targeting a launch window that opens on December 18 for our next New Shepard payload mission,” Blue Origin wrote on social network X, formerly known as Twitter.
No humans, but 33 scientific and research payloads will be on board, the company added, referring to cargo that will support experiments in space.
New Shepard, which flies cargo and humans on short trips to the edge of space, has been grounded since September 2022 when the uncrewed mission failed about a minute after liftoff from Texas, forcing the rocket capsule full of NASA experiments to safely eject mid-flight.
The company determined in March that a “structural failure” in the rocket engine’s nozzle caused last year’s failure.
There are no humans on board, although New Shepard has previously flown several missions carrying tourists, as well as Bezos, who founded Blue Origin in 2000, on the rocket’s maiden flight in 2021.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifts off with a crew of six from Launch Site One in west Texas on December 11, 2021. REUTERS
The US Federal Aviation Administration closed its review of Blue Origin’s New Shepard probe in September, agreeing with the company’s findings.
It required Blue Origin to make 21 corrective actions, including engine redesigns and “organizational changes.”
New Shepard is flying again as Blue Origin races to get its much larger rocket, the New Glenn, up for the first time, which it plans for late 2024.
While New Shepard only reached space, New Glenn is designed to carry heavier payloads into orbit as the main focus of Blue Origin’s goal to rival Elon Musk’s dominant SpaceX.
Bezos has shaken up the company’s leadership and corporate structure in recent months, Reuters has reported.
Longtime Amazon executive Dave Limp started as Blue Origin’s new CEO earlier this month.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
