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Author
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Topic: [Discuss] Blue Origin New Shepard capsule
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 46787
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-02-2017 02:32 PM
   
Please use this topic to discuss Blue Origin's New Shepard crew capsule that will carry the company's customers on suborbital spaceflights. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 46787
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-02-2017 02:34 PM
From Jeff Bezos on Instagram: Very memorable and emotional for me to show these Apollo legends our crew capsule and flown rocket at Oshkosh. Thank you for coming by Buzz Aldrin, Walt Cunningham, Jim Lovell, Al Worden, Fred Haise, Gene Kranz, Frank Borman and Joe Engle. |
SpaceCadet1983
Member Posts: 341
From: Pacific NW, United States
Registered: May 2012
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posted 08-02-2017 03:50 PM
Boy, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to hear them discuss this spacecraft. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3357
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 08-07-2021 10:35 AM
There is an aspect of the New Shepard launch system which intrigues me: is it strictly necessary for the crew capsule to detach and return to Earth by parachute, or could it remain attached as the booster makes a soft landing back on the pad?I assume the separate return by parachute (reminiscent of Vostok missions) is considered safer, in case the booster retro-fire goes wrong, or the booster topples over on landing, but when lives depend on parachute deployment, there must be a "balance of risks" assessment which favours the parachute option. Teasing this out further, would the extra weight of the capsule make a soft-landing of the complete vehicle by retro-fire impossible, or just harder? Is there any anticipated scenario where the capsule fails to separate from the booster? Would the crew be able to "bale out" or would a rocket-powered return to a soft landing be the only option? I am always wary if told that a certain failure scenario is "impossible." |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 46787
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-07-2021 10:43 AM
I do not recall Blue Origin ever saying if the New Shepard booster had enough fuel reserves to land with the capsule still attached, but I tend to doubt it.The New Shepard capsule is equipped with an abort motor that was demonstrated in both pad abort and in-flight abort tests. The motor can be fired when the capsule is still attached to the booster or after separation (both scenarios were tested). Blue Origin also purposely failed one of the capsule's three main parachutes to demonstrate it could land safely on just two (and even so, it barely crushed the crushable ring at the base of the capsule). |
328KF
Member Posts: 1329
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 08-07-2021 10:45 AM
As fast as that booster comes in and brakes so close to the ground, that’s not a ride I’d want to take! |
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