Successful test flight of New Shepard
Capitalism in space: Blue Origin today successful flew its New Shepard suborbital spacecraft on its second test flight.
You can watch the video of the full flight here. Try not to cringe listening to the announcer, who I think sometimes overdoes it.
They were aiming for a maximum altitude of 350,000 feet, which would place the capsule more than 100 kilometers or 66 miles above the Earth, the generally accepted altitude for the start of space. The live stream showed an maximum altitude of about 347,000, but the article says that later recalculations estimated a top altitude of 351,000.
Either way, they have now successfully achieved a safe suborbital spaceflight twice with this spacecraft, and both times carried science payloads. Meanwhile, their direct competitor, Virgin Galactic, has come no where close, even after fourteen years of development.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
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 today successful flew its New Shepard suborbital spacecraft on its second test flight.
You can watch the video of the full flight here. Try not to cringe listening to the announcer, who I think sometimes overdoes it.
They were aiming for a maximum altitude of 350,000 feet, which would place the capsule more than 100 kilometers or 66 miles above the Earth, the generally accepted altitude for the start of space. The live stream showed an maximum altitude of about 347,000, but the article says that later recalculations estimated a top altitude of 351,000.
Either way, they have now successfully achieved a safe suborbital spaceflight twice with this spacecraft, and both times carried science payloads. Meanwhile, their direct competitor, Virgin Galactic, has come no where close, even after fourteen years of development.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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
Agree about the on-air personality who is, ironically, named Ariane Cornell. She was so giddy as to make the personable and enthusiastic Kate Tice and Lauren Lyons, the two women engineers who often lead the SpaceX launch webcasts, look, in comparison, like the Great Stone Faces of newsreading’s yesteryear, such as Chet Huntley or Eric Sevareid. I think the SpaceX ladies have pretty well nailed the appropriate demeanor thing. Ms. Cornell, though obviously no middle-schooler, was burbling away like some tween video blogger. Less emoting and more info about what all those holds were about during the last half hour of the countdown would have been appreciated.
Dick–
Good stuff!
…the face behind the voice….
Ariane Cornell
ISPCS 2017 – Ariane Cornell November 2017
“Blue Origin and Operational Reusability”
https://youtu.be/wLCd5fxhNH0
9:21
Interesting to watch the acceleration. New Shepard’s maximum velocity is about 2000mph at MECO.
I always liked the fellow who did the announcing for the shuttle programs. Great voice and knew every aspect of the flight, the people and what was going on.
Have to remember that adult space nerds might not be the target audience for the announcer.
I thought the Kerbal Space coverage of the FH launch was a little cringy and over the top but the kids I was watching it with loved it.
You might be right about the aspirational demographic for Blue Origin webcasts. Mr. Bezos, after all, runs an entertainment network as well as a rocket company. If Blue is looking for the Nickelodeon or Disney Channel audience, perhaps what they’re doing here makes sense.
But Nick and Disney tend to have on-air personalities that are also age peers of their target kid audience. Ms. Cornell is hardly a crone, but she’s equally obviously an adult so the teen-girly burble is a bit jarring.
That said, what I was genuinely annoyed with was the complete lack of any specifics about what all those holds were about. SpaceX, ULA, Orbital, ESA and the Russians all do a much better job of explaining holds in their countdowns.
[“girly burble” — I like that, and will be incorporating that term into my daily speech!]
Ariane Cornell –
“5 Lessons I Learned from Business School That Can Be Applied to Space”
2016
https://youtu.be/SlteacT2L8I
9:22