Blue Origin Plans to Resume Space Tourism with New Shepard Rocket

Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Jeff Bezos, is preparing to relaunch its suborbital New Shepard rocket on December 18th. The company aims to resume its space tourism business after a mission failure in September 2022. The upcoming payload mission will carry 33 science and research experiments to support research in space.

Grounding and Investigation

New Shepard has been grounded since the uncrewed mission failure in September 2022. Blue Origin determined that a “structural failure” in the rocket’s engine nozzle caused the incident. The US Federal Aviation Administration closed its review of Blue Origin’s investigation in September and agreed with the company’s findings. As a result, Blue Origin was required to implement 21 corrective actions, including an engine redesign and organizational changes.

New Shepard vs. New Glenn

New Shepard is a suborbital rocket that carries cargo and humans on short trips to the edge of space. In contrast, New Glenn, Blue Origin’s much larger rocket, is designed to deploy heavier payloads into orbit. Blue Origin plans to launch New Glenn for the first time in late 2024 as it aims to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Leadership Changes

Jeff Bezos has made significant changes to Blue Origin’s leadership and corporate structure in recent months. Dave Limp, a longtime executive at Amazon, assumed the role of Blue Origin’s CEO earlier this month.

With the upcoming launch of New Shepard, Blue Origin aims to regain momentum in the space tourism industry. The company’s focus on innovation and its plans for New Glenn demonstrate its ambition to become a major player in the space industry.