New Shepard completes another suborbital passenger flight
Capitalism in space: Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spacecraft today completed its third commercial suborbital passenger flight, this time carrying six people, including Laura Shepard Churchley, the daughter of Alan Shepard, the first American to fly in space.
Churchley, as well as former football player Michael Strahan, were not a paying passengers. What the other passengers paid for their flights has not been revealed. Nor has Blue Origin listed a ticket price anywhere.
It is good news that Blue Origin is now doing these suborbital commercial flights regularly. It would be much better news if the company started manufacturing its BE-4 engine as regularly so that its orbital New Glenn rocket could do the same.
Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday. I was starting the preparations for a caver’s party today at my home, and needed to do stuff related to that. While most of the organized caving community has blacklisted me and several others because we don’t cower in our basement doing zoom meetings but go caving instead, a good number agree with us and are coming today. Partying sometimes comes ahead of work!
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Capitalism in space: Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spacecraft today completed its third commercial suborbital passenger flight, this time carrying six people, including Laura Shepard Churchley, the daughter of Alan Shepard, the first American to fly in space.
Churchley, as well as former football player Michael Strahan, were not a paying passengers. What the other passengers paid for their flights has not been revealed. Nor has Blue Origin listed a ticket price anywhere.
It is good news that Blue Origin is now doing these suborbital commercial flights regularly. It would be much better news if the company started manufacturing its BE-4 engine as regularly so that its orbital New Glenn rocket could do the same.
Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday. I was starting the preparations for a caver’s party today at my home, and needed to do stuff related to that. While most of the organized caving community has blacklisted me and several others because we don’t cower in our basement doing zoom meetings but go caving instead, a good number agree with us and are coming today. Partying sometimes comes ahead of work!
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I’m sure Churchley enjoyed her ride a lot more than her Dad’s first ride. I heard from a few of the folks that worked that launch that Mr. Shepard was not a happy man during the launch “countdown”.
I saw a clip and it looks (to me) like the capsule came down hard. Any news?
pawn-
can’t help you with the clip, it looked ok to me.
you might like this….
Alan Shepard
interviewed by Roy Neal (2-2-1998)
NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project
https://youtu.be/kF3SuruDCwE
1:28:00
Going tangential briefly–
Anyone following the massive tornado activity overnight, in Kentucky, Missouri, and Arkansas?
->massive destruction and a high loss of life.
Glad to hear you’re back with some of your caving group. When will common sense trump irrational fear?
Give Them Hades…Mr.Z!!!!!
But the Other Party Poopers have Arrived…..
FAA Says No More Astronaut Wings For Commercial Space Travelers Because There Are Too Many
BY AYUMI DAVIS ON 12/10/21 AT 9:39 PM EST
https://www-newsweek-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.newsweek.com/faa-says-no-more-astronaut-wings-commercial-space-travelers-because-there-are-too-many-1658451?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16392594737132&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Ffaa-says-no-more-astronaut-wings-commercial-space-travelers-because-there-are-too-many-1658451
The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday it will no longer award commercial astronaut wings after this year because there are too many people launching into space.
Alton announced: “FAA Says No More Astronaut Wings For Commercial Space Travelers Because There Are Too Many”
Gee, they didn’t see this coming back, a decade or so ago, when Virgin Galactic signed up 600 people to fly into space?
To Wayne
Go to http://www.americanwx.com and http://www.stormtrack.org for more. I have always been fascinated by vortices and helped assist chase legend Matt Biddle in surveys of Alabama twisters.
Thomas Grazulis of THE TORNADO PROJECT is also a good resource.
“The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday it will no longer award commercial astronaut wings after this year because there are too many people launching into space.”
Something I am happy to see in my lifetime.
“Partying sometimes comes ahead of work!”
Bring it, Z!
Are caving parties held in the basement? If so, invite Joe.
Thanks Wayne.
I hadn’t seen that one. I can listen to these guys for hours.
Gary H: This caving party was mostly spent in my backyard, as I spent 2 hours making slow cooked chicken with a North Carolina basting sauce over a grill and others used my climbing tower to practice with their vertical rope gear. Then we went inside to eat the chicken and hang out some more and plan some cave trips and projects.
Mr. Z.,
You have a climbing tower at the compound–very cool!
Jeff–
Thanks, great back-story!
(High-wind warnings in effect for Michigan all weekend, lost my power for 26 hours– first time in 15 years.)
These folks have some excellent video
https://www.youtube.com/c/LiveStormsMedia/videos
Pawn-
Good deal, I hadn’t seen that one before either. (I consume a lot of this Stuff!)
Wayne: I suspect the climbing tower you visualize is not what I have. The tower is simply a 20 ft high steel tripod with a pulley at the top. We run rope through it, and people can climb the rope with various caving vertical rigs, practicing various things that need practicing.
“Partying sometimes comes ahead of work!”
In the West, people begin drinking after work, the Sura people in Africa begin drinking when they start work
From A Short History of Drunkenness https://www.amazon.com/s?k=a+short+history+of+drunkenness&gclid=Cj0KCQiA2NaNBhDvARIsAEw55hiHH26e00lA4Kpv8ZP_heTciLUEapYdBAyXCExaZKP_Ns0CTnEjqO8aAlm-EALw_wcB&hvadid=241624218381&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9004018&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=10560188078877986277&hvtargid=kwd-372875625583&hydadcr=8291_10375972&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_81xsmz9rv5_e
By the way:
The Live Storms Media People posted some interesting drone footage of the leaf turning ‘peeping’ from across the USA.
While watching the replay of the flight the network coverage was speaking of the descent. In it they called attention to how the chutes slowed down the descent speed of the capsule.. As it got near the ground it’s speed was 15mph and the narrator mentioned that the capsule had some retro rockets (my term) to slow it down even more just before it landed. However when it did land it was still going 15mph and there was no sign of thrusters or anyhting firing. The landing did appear a bit hard. Haven’t had time ot compare the landing wiht previous ones but as Pawn mentioned I was curious if there was an anomoly in the landing.
Bill asked: “I was curious if there was an anomoly in the landing.”
This was a normal landing. The “retrorockets” fire about three feet from landing. At 15 miles per hour, this is a mere 1/7th second before impact. The Russian Soyuz capsule does the same thing. It gives a similar landing as jumping from a second-story window and landing on three foot thick padding. Boeing’s Starliner uses an inflated cushion to do the same thing. Ocean landings use water to provide the cushioning.
You may have been expecting a landing more like the New Shepard booster or the Falcon 9 booster, but this is a different landing, where the speed is reduced from parachute speed to virtually zero only at the last second. More precisely, the last few milliseconds (around 150 to 200 milliseconds).