Update for 10 am ET: Blue Origin scrubbed its Thursday (Sept. 1) launch opportunity because of weather and has not yet released a new target date.
Blue Origin plans to launch its next space mission on Thursday morning (Sept. 1), and you can watch the uncrewed action live.
Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital vehicle is scheduled to lift off Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) from the company's West Texas launch site, which is near the town of Van Horn. You can watch it live on Space.com, courtesy of Blue Origin, or directly via the company. The webcast will begin about 20 minutes before launch, the company has said.
Blue Origin originally hoped to launch the mission — called NS-23, because it will be the 23rd New Shepard flight — on Wednesday (Aug. 31), but bad weather conditions prevented the liftoff. The company is hoping for better weather on Thursday at the same launch time. "We're continuing to track the weather in West Texas," Blue Origin wrote in a Twitter update(opens in new tab).
The NS-23 mission isn't carrying any space tourists aloft. It's a cargo-only flight that will take 36 payloads on a brief jaunt to suborbital space and back, 18 of them funded by NASA.
"Twenty-four payloads are from K-12 schools, universities and STEM-focused organizations," Blue Origin wrote in an Aug. 24 update(opens in new tab), which has detailed descriptions of some of the experiments. ("STEM" stands for "science, technology, engineering and math.")
"This is double the number of education-focused payloads from previous payload flight manifests," the company, which is run by Jeff Bezos, added in the update. "In many cases, these payloads expose students as young as elementary school to STEM skills like coding, environmental testing and CAD [computer-aided design] design often not taught until college."
New Shepard consists of a rocket and a capsule, both of which are reusable. Blue Origin currently operates two New Shepard vehicles, one for space tourism and one for payload-only flights.
The company has launched six crewed missions to date, all of them since July 2021. NS-23 will be the first payload-only flight since August of last year.
Quelle: SC
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Update: 13.09.2022
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EFF-BEZOS-UNTERNEHMEN
Rakete bei Start von Weltraumkapsel abgestürzt
Beim Start einer Rakete des Unternehmens Blue Origin von Amazon-Gründer Jeff Bezos ist es zu einem größeren Zwischenfall gekommen. Kurz nach dem Start samt einer unbemannten Kapsel mit Forschungsausrüstung im US-Bundesstaat Texas stürzte die Trägerrakete am Montag kurz nach dem Start zu Boden. Die Kapsel selbst sei unbeschädigt, da sie sich mit einem Notsystem von ihrem Träger habe lösen können, hieß es.
Blue Origin veröffentlichte am Montag ein kurzes Video, in dem zu sehen ist, wie sich die Kapsel von der Trägerrakete trennt.
Die US-Luftfahrtbehörde leitete nach eigenen Angaben Ermittlungen zu dem Vorfall ein.
Der nun gescheiterte Start der Forschungskapsel war der 23. Flug im Rahmen des Programms New Shepard, benannt nach dem ersten US-Bürger im All, dem Astronauten Alan Shepard. Alle vorherigen Starts waren ohne Zwischenfälle verlaufen.
32 Menschen waren im Rahmen des Programms bisher ins Weltall gereist, unter ihnen „Blue Origin“-Gründer Jeff Bezos und der frühere „Star Trek“-Darsteller William Shatner.
Quelle: Kronen Zeitung
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Blue Origin Capsule Safely Aborts Failed NS-23 Rocket Launch
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket and capsule have several crewed and un-crewed suborbital flights to the edge of space under its belt at this point, launching millionaire rich tourists and celebrities for quick joy rides up and down, as well as sending up experiments for various organizations.
Being a capsule atop a rocket means there is a relatively reliable abort option, and today they proved it when the capsule safely aborted from its failing rocket just over 1:00 into flight.
The mission, NS-23, had no crew onboard fortunately, and was instead supposed to send up 36 science and technology demonstration payloads for various schools and organizations.
The company has not released any details as to what happened, but in the video you can clearly see the rocket’s BE-3 engine flame out as the vehicle throttled through Max-Q, which is the point where there is maximum dynamic pressure on the rocket and capsule.
Whatever the case, the capsule’s solid rocket motor launch escape (abort) system did its job, pulling it away from the failing rocket for a gentle parachute landing. It did exactly what it was supposed to, and had a crew been onboard, they would be alive and well.
The FAA will lead the investigation, and Blue Origin will not be allowed to launch again until the FAA says so. “The FAA will determine whether any system, process, or procedure related to the mishap affected public safety,” noted the agency in a statement, adding “this is standard practice for all mishap investigations. The FAA is responsible for protecting the public during commercial space transportation launch and reentry operations.”
Quelle: AS