posted 06-13-2016 07:04 PM               

Trying for fourth flight of same hardware this Friday [June 17]. Live webcast at BlueOrigin.com.

Flight to test one-chute-out failure scenario and push envelope on booster maneuvers.

Bezos expanded on the test flight plans in an email to Blue Origin's followers:

You might remember the Apollo 15 capsule had one parachute fail during its return to earth prompting the recovery ship USS Okinawa to radio to Worden, Irwin and Scott in the Command Module "You have a streamed chute. Stand by for a hard impact."

A parachute failure is a credible scenario in even the most carefully designed recovery system, so a robust vehicle needs to accommodate that possibility through redundancies and margin designed and built into each subsystem that protects the astronauts during landing. The New Shepard crew capsule is designed to safely land the crew even in the event of a parachute failure.

...we're about to do that test. In addition to redundant parachutes, the crew capsule is equipped with a two-stage crushable structure that absorbs landing loads, along with seats that use a passive energy absorbing mechanism to reduce peak loads to the occupant. As an added measure of redundancy, the crew capsule is equipped with a "retro rocket" propulsive system that activates just a few feet above the ground to lower the velocity to approximately 3 ft/sec at touchdown. This final maneuver causes the dust cloud you can see when the crew capsule lands.

We're planning to demonstrate the redundancies built into the capsule on this re-flight of the vehicle by intentionally failing one drogue and one main parachute during descent. This should occur around 7.5 minutes into the flight at an altitude of 24,000 feet.

Our other goals for this mission include continuing to learn about our reusable architecture by actually reusing it (this will be the fourth flight of the same hardware), further demonstrating the predictability and repeatability of vehicle performance, and executing pre-planned flight control maneuvers on the booster and crew capsule via fin deflections, TVC deflections and RCS firings to observe system response in order to reduce modeling uncertainties.

posted 06-16-2016 09:09 AM               

Replacing leaking O-ring in capsule's nitrogen gas pressurization system. Rescheduling flight to Sunday.

posted 06-17-2016 09:02 AM               

New Shepard launch set for Sunday [June 19] at 10:15 a.m. EDT. Live webcast starts at 9:45 a.m. EDT at blueorigin.com.

Watching a rocket launch (and rocket landing!) might add a little extra fun with kids on Father's Day.

Look for one-chute-out test starting about 7 minutes into flight and continue pushing envelope on booster.

And of course – development test flight – anything can happen.

posted 06-19-2016 08:30 AM               

Loading propellants. Looking good for this morning's launch.

posted 06-19-2016 09:56 AM               

• Launch: 9:36 a.m. CDT (1436 GMT)
• Apogee: 331,504 feet (101 km) booster
• Booster touchdown: 9:44 a.m. CDT (1444 GMT)
  
• Capsule touchdown: 9:45 a.m. CDT (1445 GMT)

posted 06-19-2016 04:38 PM               

New Shepard flew again on June 19, 2016, reaching an apogee of 331,504 feet (101.042 kilometers). It was the fourth flight with this booster and the sixth flight of this capsule.

This time, we intentionally did not deploy one of three parachutes on the capsule and proved we could softly land with only two of them open. We've designed the capsule to have one or two levels of redundancy in every system needed for crew safety, including the separation systems, parachutes, reaction control thrusters, landing retro-thrusters, flight computers, and power systems. We also changed the ascending trajectory of the booster to adopt a more aggressive tilt towards our landing pad to the north after liftoff.

We did this maneuver to test the ascent trajectory we will use during Transonic Escape Test, planned for later this year. During Transonic Escape Test, we will intentionally fire the capsule's solid-rocket escape motor in-flight at transonic speeds to divert and propel it away from a fully thrusting booster and demonstrate we can safely recover the capsule.

posted 07-21-2016 12:06 PM               

On our most recent flight, we performed a test to prove the Crew Capsule could safely land with only two of its three parachutes open. On a nominal flight with all three parachutes deployed, the capsule descends at about 16 mph before firing a retrorocket just a few feet above the ground. This retrorocket firing is what creates the large cloud of dust you see just before the capsule lands, and slows the capsule down to 3 mph before it touches the ground. This last bit of speed is absorbed by a ring shaped crushable bumper made of aluminum honeycomb material mounted on the bottom of the capsule. The ring is made of eight segments.

Above: Crew Capsule during post landing recovery operations.

On this last mission, with one chute intentionally failed, the capsule was descending at 23 mph before firing its retrorocket. The retrorocket took out most of that velocity, and the crushable ring did the rest of the job. Below, you can see a couple of pictures of the crushable after the flight test. The first picture shows it mounted under the vehicle after we lifted it off the ground post-flight. The second picture shows a side view of the eight segments after we removed them from the vehicle. Even with one chute out, the crushable barely crushed. When new, the crushable is about 5.5 inches high and can crush down to less than one inch high, providing a constant deceleration force as it crushes. After the mission, the crushable was still over 5 inches high along nearly the entire circumference of the ring.

Above: Sacrificial bumpers removed from Crew Capsule after flight for inspection, barely crushed.

We've designed the capsule to ensure astronaut safety not just for a failure of one parachute, but even for a failure of two parachutes. In addition to the retrorocket system and the crushable ring, there is an energy absorbing mechanism mounted underneath each seat.