Blue Origin update on New Shepard and New Glenn
Capitalism in space: Blue Origin officials today provided an update on both its suborbital New Shepard spacecraft as well as its New Glenn orbital rocket.
First, the company’s CEO, Bob Smith, was quoted as saying that New Shepard would fly three more flights unmanned prior to its first manned flight, and that manned flight will occur before the end of this year.
Smith has made similar promises in the past, so if you are skeptical it is entirely understandable. They have already flown their second New Shepard craft six times successfully. It is unclear if they are they going with a new craft for these manned flights, or using this older test vehicle.
Second, the company released two short public relations videos touting the completion of the first fairing for their orbital New Glenn rocket. In addition, they still expect production of that rocket’s BE-4 engine to begin this year, with a first maiden flight next year.
That predicted launch date still fits the revamped schedule they announced back in October 2018, which suggests they have not experienced any major issues. The next year however will tell the tale.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Capitalism in space: Blue Origin officials today provided an update on both its suborbital New Shepard spacecraft as well as its New Glenn orbital rocket.
First, the company’s CEO, Bob Smith, was quoted as saying that New Shepard would fly three more flights unmanned prior to its first manned flight, and that manned flight will occur before the end of this year.
Smith has made similar promises in the past, so if you are skeptical it is entirely understandable. They have already flown their second New Shepard craft six times successfully. It is unclear if they are they going with a new craft for these manned flights, or using this older test vehicle.
Second, the company released two short public relations videos touting the completion of the first fairing for their orbital New Glenn rocket. In addition, they still expect production of that rocket’s BE-4 engine to begin this year, with a first maiden flight next year.
That predicted launch date still fits the revamped schedule they announced back in October 2018, which suggests they have not experienced any major issues. The next year however will tell the tale.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The obvious question is why so slow? Looks like SpaceX is going to put humans in orbit before BO even gives a few of them an ultimate roller-coaster ride! And SpaceX is probably going to beat presumptive aerospace leaders Boeing and Lockheed putting humans into orbit, too.
Is it because BO is limited by Bezos’ wealth, while SpaceX is playing with (future) StarLink cash flow? But isn’t the BE-4 engine selected for the new ULA Vulcan? Is that not a sufficient / secure enough / timely-enough revenue stream? Is BE-4 holding up Vulcan, or is Vulcan holding up demand for BE-4?
Maybe the question is more properly not why BO, Boeing and Lockheed are so slow, but how is SpaceX so fast… and is it too fast?!
They have a different definition of “complete” than I do. I see no acoustic protection, no latches, no mounting lugs of any kind. And maybe I’ve been spoiled by SpaceX, but just thinking that they are going to throw this away… Ugh.
(Also, why start with the fairing? Shouldn’t they have a working booster first?)
From the article: “The Jeff Bezos-backed rocket company pumped the brakes on its test flight program last year”
It would have been nice for them to tell us why Blue Origin slowed down last year.
Meanwhile, over the past two years they have had a year-for-year schedule slip on New Shepard, which is a bad sign. A project that is not converging toward completion is a project in trouble.
Slightly OT, here is a video tour of ULA with Bruno thanks to smarter everyday. Some good bits of info about Vulcan. There is a part 2 and a pad tour if you search the channel.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o0fG_lnVhHw
wodun,
Thank you for the link. I also liked part 2 and the visit to the pad.