Liftoff of the Blue Origin rocket Tuesday, December 19, 2023 in West Texas (BLUE ORIGIN / Jose ROMERO)
A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket took off from Texas on Tuesday, a success which marks the return to space of the American company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, more than a year after an accident.
Ten minutes after takeoff, the NS-24 mission capsule – without passengers but with scientific equipment – landed gently in the desert of the American West, according to a live video broadcast.
This return to space should make it possible to resume space tourism operations for Blue Origin, which has already taken 31 wealthy curious people for trips of a few minutes above the final frontier, including Jeff Bezos himself.
“Demand for New Shepard flights is growing further, and we hope to accelerate our flight frequency in 2024,” said Phil Joyce, company vice president.
The rocket successfully took off in West Texas at 4:42 p.m. GMT. The takeoff, initially scheduled for Monday, had been postponed until the next day “due to a problem with the ground systems,” Blue Origin declared on X (formerly Twitter).
Less than 8 minutes after takeoff, its reusable propulsion stage landed safely on the dedicated space, in the arid plains of the southern United States. About two minutes later, his capsule landed using parachutes. Total mission duration: 10 minutes and 13 seconds.
On board, no humans but equipment to carry out scientific experiments during the few moments in microgravity: the capsule flew up to 107 kilometers above the Earth, beyond the border with space (100 km) .
For example, one of the experiments aimed to better understand how water and gas move in a gravity-free environment.
– Accident in 2022 –
The accident which occurred in September 2022 resulted in the crash of the rocket’s propulsion stage. It was not carrying any passengers at the time.
An investigation was opened by the American aviation regulator (FAA), which concluded in September that the accident was caused by “a higher than expected operational temperature of the engine”.
The FAA had requested changes from the space company before flights could resume. These “corrective actions” notably included modifying the design of certain engine components.
The regulator confirmed to AFP that it had approved the modified flight license filed by Blue Origin.
– New Horizons –
A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket takes off from the Van Horn launch site on March 31, 2022 in Texas (AFP / Patrick T. FALLON)
The New Shepard rocket is made up of a propulsion stage and, at its top, the capsule carrying its cargo or passengers.
During the mission named NS-23, the capsule’s automatic ejection system was triggered and it fell to the ground, slowed by its parachutes.
The main stage had been destroyed by hitting the ground, instead of landing in a controlled manner for reuse, as usual.
All the debris had fallen within the designated safety zone, the FAA noted in September.
Blue Origin competes in the niche of short space tourism flights with Virgin Galactic, a company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson and which operates in New Mexico. It made its first commercial flight in August, not using a vertical rocket but a huge carrier plane, which then drops a spacecraft.
Hours after Blue Origin’s flight, Virgin Galactic announced that the launch window for its next mission with four passengers would open on January 26.
Blue Origin is also developing a heavy launcher, named New Glenn, whose first flight is planned for 2024. With its 98 meters high, the New Glenn rocket must be able to carry up to 45 tonnes into low Earth orbit – a completely different scale than New Shepard’s suborbital flights.