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New Shepard is a vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL), crew-rated suborbital launch vehicle developed by Blue Origin as a commercial system for suborbital space tourism.[1] Blue Origin is owned and led by Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos.
The name New Shepard makes reference to the first American astronaut in space, Alan Shepard, one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts, who ascended to space in 1961 on a suborbital trajectory similar to that of New Shepard.[2]
Prototype engine and vehicle flights began in 2006, while full-scale engine development started in the early 2010s and was complete by 2015. Uncrewed flight testing of the complete New Shepard vehicle (propulsion module and space capsule) began in 2015.
On 23 November 2015, after reaching 100.5 km (62.4 mi) altitude (outer space), the suborbital New Shepard booster successfully performed a powered vertical soft landing, the first time a suborbital booster rocket had returned from space to make a successful vertical landing. The test program continued in 2016 and 2017 with four additional test flights made with the same vehicle (NS-2) in 2016 and the first test flight of the new NS-3 vehicle made in 2017.
Blue Origin planned its first crewed test flight to occur in 2018, which was however delayed until 2021, and has since announced that tickets would begin to be sold for commercial flights of up to six people.[3] The first crewed flight took place on 20 July 2021. An anonymous buyer (later revealed to have been Justin Sun) purchased one seat for the 20 July 2021 flight at auction for $28 million[4] but this person did not fly on said flight due to scheduling problems; the anonymous buyer was rescheduled for a later flight. Instead of the auction winning passenger, 18-year-old Oliver Daemen was selected to fly. Daemen's father paid for his flight, thus Daemen was the first customer (i.e., person whose flight has been paid for) passenger of New Shepard and became the youngest person and first teenager to fly into space.
As of 4 August 2022, New Shepard has flown 32 passengers into space (31 first time spaceflight participants).
On 12 September 2022, the RSS H. G. Wells capsule aborted during the NS-23 mission mid-flight due to a propulsion failure.[5]
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| Launch | Date | Vehicle | Apogee | Outcome | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 19 October 2012 | 0.7 km (0.4369 mi) | Success | Pad abort test of the New Shepard crew capsule. | |
| 1 | 29 April 2015 |
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93.5 km (58.1 mi) | Partial success | Flight to altitude 93.5 km, capsule recovered, booster crashed on landing.[6] |
| 2 | 23 November 2015 |
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100.535 km (62.4695 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing.[7] |
| 3 | 22 January 2016 |
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101.676 km (63.1784 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster.[8] |
| 4 | 2 April 2016 |
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103.381 km (64.2383 mi)[9] | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster.[10] |
| 5 | 19 June 2016 |
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101.042 km (62.7843 mi)[11] | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster: the fourth launch and landing of the same rocket. Blue Origin published a live webcast of the takeoff and landing.[11] |
| 6 | 5 October 2016 |
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Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster. Successful test of the in-flight abort system. The fifth and final launch and landing of the same rocket (NS2). |
| 7 | 12 December 2017 |
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Success | Flight to just under 100 km and landing. The first launch of NS3 and a new Crew Capsule 2.0.[14] |
| 8 | 29 April 2018 |
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107 km (66.5 mi)[15] | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster.[16] |
| 9 | 18 July 2018 |
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118.825 km (73.8345 mi)[17] | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster, with the Crew Capsule 2.0-1 RSS H.G.Wells, carrying a mannequin. Successful test of the in-flight abort system at high altitude. Flight duration was 11 minutes.[17] |
| 10 | 23 January 2019 |
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c. 106.9 km (66.4 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital flight, delayed from 18 December 2018. Eight NASA research and technology payloads were flown.[18][19] |
| 11 | 2 May 2019 |
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c. 105 km (65.5 mi)[20] | Success | Sub-orbital flight. Maximum Ascent Velocity: 3,568 km/h (2,217 mph),[20] duration: 10 minutes, 10 seconds. Payload: 38 microgravity research payloads (nine sponsored by NASA). |
| 12 | 11 December 2019 |
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c. 104.5 km (64.9 mi)[21] | Success | Sub-orbital flight, Payload: Multiple commercial, research (8 sponsored by NASA) and educational payloads, including postcards from Club for the Future.[22][23] The sixth launch and landing of the same rocket.[21] |
| 13 | 13 October 2020, 13:37 |
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c. 107.0 km (66.52 mi) | Success | 7th flight of the same capsule/booster. Onboard 12 payloads include Space Lab Technologies, Southwest Research Institute, postcards and seeds for Club for the Future, and multiple payloads for NASA including SPLICE to test future lunar landing technologies in support of the Artemis program.[24] |
| 14 | 14 January 2021, 16:57[25] |
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Success | Uncrewed qualification flight for NS4 rocket and capsule and maiden flight for NS4 | |
| 15 | 14 April 2021 16:51[26] |
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Success | Second flight of NS4, first preflight human passenger process test where Blue Origin conducted an "Astronaut Rehearsal." Gary Lai, Susan Knapp, Clay Mowry, and Audrey Powers, all Blue Origin personnel, were “stand-in astronauts”. Lai and Powers briefly entered the capsule during the test.[27] |
| 16 | 20 July 2021 13:12[28][29] |
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Success | |
| 17 | 25 August 2021 14:31[30] |
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Success | Payload mission consisting of 18 commercial payloads inside the crew capsule, a NASA lunar landing technology demonstration installed on the exterior of the booster and an art installation installed on the exterior of the crew capsule.[31] |
| 18 | 13 October 2021 14:49[32] |
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Success | Second crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of four included:[33][34] * Chris Boshuizen * Glen de Vries * William Shatner * Audrey Powers |
| 19 | 11 December 2021[35] |
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Success | Third crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: * Lane Bess * Cameron Bess * Evan Dick * Laura Shepard Churchley * Michael Strahan * Dylan Taylor | |
| 20 | 31 March 2022 13:57[36] |
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Success | Fourth crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: * Marty Allen * Sharon Hagle * Marc Hagle * Jim Kitchen * George Nield * Gary Lai |
| 21 | 4 June 2022 13:25[37] |
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Success | Fifth crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: * Evan Dick * Katya Echazarreta * Hamish Harding * Victor Correa Hespanha * Jaison Robinson * Victor Vescovo |
| 22 | 4 August 2022 13:56[38] |
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Success | Sixth crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: * Coby Cotton * Mário Ferreira * Vanessa O'Brien * Clint Kelly III * Sara Sabry * Steve Young |
| 23 | 12 September 2022 14:27[39] |
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11.400 km (7.0835 mi)[39] | Failure[39] | Uncrewed research mission with 36 commercial payloads on board including two on the exterior of the booster.[40] The spacecraft's launch escape system activated after the booster's BE-3 main engine failed around a minute after liftoff leading to a loss of control. The capsule was safely recovered whilst the booster was lost as it impacted on ground.[41][39] |