posted 05-01-2019 12:04 PM               

We are targeting the next launch of New Shepard tomorrow, May 2, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. CDT/13:30 UTC. The mission will take 38 microgravity research payloads to space. Watch the launch live at blueorigin.com.

Tomorrow Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket launches into suborbital space carrying 9 NASA-supported technology payloads. Testing in microgravity enables researchers the chance to test their experiments, readying them for future exploration and science missions.

posted 05-01-2019 11:30 PM               

New Shepard Targeting May 2 Launch

We're targeting New Shepard's next launch on May 2, 2019, with liftoff scheduled for 8:30 am CDT / 13:30 UTC. The mission, named NS-11, will take 38 payloads above the Kármán line into space.

Some of the payloads flying with us include:

• Orbital Medicine – Orbital Medicine, a small business focused on aerospace medicine, comes to us through funding from NASA's Flight Opportunities Program. On NS-11, Marsh Cuttino, MD, will demonstrate an experimental medical technology designed to treat a collapsed lung in zero gravity (which is a gravity-dependent procedure). Thanks to a previous flight on New Shepard, Dr. Cuttino has been able to evolve the technology and this flight will prove a near-final version that could one day save lives in space.

• New Century Technology High School – A group of students from Huntsville, AL have designed an experiment to test temperature fluctuations in microgravity. The students were excited to get hands-on experience for a project they'll be able to launch to space and worked with NASA engineers to perfect their design. By lowering launch costs, more and more students will have the chance to design, build and send technology to space.

• MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative – The Space Exploration Initiative is built on the spirit of the MIT Media Lab, uniting artists, engineers, scientists, and designers. As the first MIT flight with New Shepard, the Space Exploration Initiative is flying several scientific payloads, as well as two projects that use zero gravity as a medium for works of art. Telepresent Drawings in Space uses graphite to create a drawing that could only have been made in space. Living Distance: A Spider-Inspired Robotic Dance in Weightlessness demonstrates a crystalline robotic device that navigates zero gravity, similar to a performance. Other payloads include TESSERAE: Self Assembling Space Architecture, Floral Cosmonauts: Crystal Electro-Nucleation and Queen Bee Maiden Flight.

posted 05-02-2019 09:06 AM               

Touchdown! This is the 11th landing of a New Shepard booster, and the 5th landing for this particular vehicle.

Congrats to the Blue Origin team on what looks to be another wholly successful flight.