The Blue Origin Space News Thread

Tuckerfan · Oct 14, 2020

Another test flight for the flying dildo.

Blue Origin completes successful suborbital space shot

Blue Origin launched its New Shepard suborbital rocket to the edge of space Tuesday from the company’s remote desert test site in West Texas on an experimental flight to test precision lunar landing technology for NASA.

The single-stage New Shepard rocket, standing roughly 60 feet (18 meters) tall, blasted off on the power of its hydrogen-fueled BE-3 engine at 9:36 a.m. EDT (8:36 a.m. CDT; 1336 GMT) from Blue Origin’s test facility north of Van Horn, Texas.

The mission was the 13th flight of a suborbital New Shepard rocket since 2015, and the seventh flight of Blue Origin’s latest reusable New Shepard booster.

Blue Origin planned to launch the mission Sept. 24, but officials scrubbed the launch attempt to investigate a problem with the power supply to the experiments on-board the rocket. The company, founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, announced Monday that it was gearing up for another try Tuesday.

The New Shepard rocket launched with a pressurized capsule on top, and its BE-3 engine fired nearly two-and-a-half minutes. Moments later, the pressurized section separated from the booster and coasted to a maximum altitude, or apogee, of 346,964 feet, or 105 kilometers, above ground level. Both vehicles then began descending back into the atmosphere.

The New Shepard booster deployed air brakes, reignited its BE-3 engine, and extended four landing legs to target a vertical propulsive touchdown on a landing pad near the New Shepard launch site in West Texas. The capsule unfurled parachutes and land on the desert floor with the aid of retrorockets, ending the mission around 10 minutes after liftoff.

Blue Origin is testing the New Shepard rocket and crew capsule for eventual flights to loft passengers on suborbital flights to space and back. Up to six people will ride inside the pressurized crew compartment on top of the New Shepard rocket. The reusable capsule and booster will separate after the launch sequence roughly two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, coast to apogee and experience three-to-four minutes of weightlessness, then begin their separate descent profiles back to Earth.

Earlier this year, Blue Origin officials said they were conducting a thorough review of rocket and capsule systems to ensure everything was ready for flights with people. Joel Eby, who co-hosted Blue Origin’s webcast of Tuesday’s flight, said the company plans “just a couple more flights” before launching humans on suborbital jaunts.

Paying space tourists and commercial and government researchers could be passengers on future New Shepard flights.

While Blue Origin continues test flights before clearing the New Shepard system for human passengers, the company is already flying automated scientific payloads.

The mission that launched Tuesday — designated New Shepard-13, or NS-13 — flew 12 payloads to space, including a sensor suite for NASA to demonstrate precision landing technologies that could guide future robotic and crewed missions to landings on the moon.

Blue Origin said NASA’s Deorbit, Descent, and Landing Sensor Demonstration that flew on on the NS-13 mission is part of a “Tipping Point” partnership between Blue Origin and NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

The landing sensors flew on the outside of the New Shepard booster, “opening the door to a wide range of future high-altitude sensing, sampling, and exposure payloads,” Blue Origin said. Previous New Shepard payloads have flown inside the pressurized capsule.

The experiment was designed to test key components of NASA’s Safe and Precise Landing – Integrated Capabilities Evolution, or SPLICE, technology suite. NASA says the SPLICE sensors “will enable safer and more accurate lunar landings than ever before.” The system’s algorithms and sensors could allow lunar landers to touch down in rugged regions with boulders and craters, places that were unreachable during the Apollo program.

The sensors will identify hazards such as steep slopes and boulders, allowing lunar landers to steer to the safest touchdown zone with a circular area around 330 feet, or 100 meters, in diameter. It’s part of NASA’s technology development initiatives for the agency’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the lunar surface by the end of 2024.

he NS-13 test flight tested two of the three SPLICE sensors — a navigation doppler lidar and a terrain relative navigation camera — mounted on the upper portion of the New Shepard booster. A descent and landing computer housed inside the rocket was expected to receive and process the sensor data.

“Testing SPLICE technologies on a suborbital rocket expands the envelope beyond previous lab tests, helicopter field tests, and lower-altitude suborbital rocket tests,” said John Carson, technical integration manager for precision landing based at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “We will get more data about the system to anchor analyses and models and support follow-on adjustments, testing, and development.”

A third sensor called a hazard detection lidar will fly on future SPLICE test missions. NASA says it designed the system’s sensors to work independently, with one or all SPLICE sensors capable of supporting a single mission. The SPLICE suite will fly to the moon on a pair of commercial robotic landers from Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines as soon as next year.

The test flight Tuesday was the first of two Blue Origin launches to fly precision landing landing technology experiments for NASA. The space agency signed a $3 million agreement with Blue Origin in 2018 to fly terrain relative navigation, navigation doppler lidar, and other altimetry sensors on New Shepard missions.

Blue Origin is leading a team of companies developing a human-rated lunar lander for the Artemis program, alongside aerospace contractors Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper. Industrial teams led by Dynetics and SpaceX are also vying for a NASA contract to build the human-rated moon lander.

The company is also developing a huge orbital-class rocket named New Glenn, which will launch large satellites from Cape Canaveral.

Eight other NASA-sponsored research payloads flew on the New Shepard test launch Tuesday.

They included microgravity experiments to test a hydroponic chamber for growing edible aquatic plants in space, demonstrate a magnetic system for collecting small rocks from asteroids, and a payload to test a device for transferring and delivering cryogenic propellants in space.

Other experiments tested an integrated remote sensing system for future space missions, and an imaging system designed to monitor biological payloads in microgravity. Also on-board the New Shepard capsule was a radiation detector, a space environment monitoring payload, and a next-generation cooling system for future spacecraft.

Blue Origin also flew tens of thousands of postcards from students around the world for the company’s nonprofit group Club for the Future.
Click to expand...

Tuckerfan · Jan 15, 2021

Capsule test went well.

Blue Origin Successfully Tests Upgraded Capsule Built for Crewed Flights

Blue Origin flew an upgraded model of its New Shepard capsule on Thursday, which is set to carry humans into space.

Part of the company's NS-14 mission, the New Shepard booster and its crewed capsule launched from Blue Origin's West Texas test site at 12:17 PM EST.

The successful separation of the crewed capsule from the booster took place about two and a half minutes after liftoff, using its parachutes to land safely back to Earth 10 minutes and 15 seconds after liftoff.

The booster landed back down on the edge of its landing pad.

Blue Origin's New Shepard booster was powered by a hydrogen-fueled BE-3 engine, and reached an altitude of 350,858 feet (106 km) — in other words, above the internationally recognized boundary of space.

This test flight marked the "15th consecutive successful crew capsule landing," as Blue Origin said in its statement. For the New Shepard rocket and capsule, however, this was its 14th flight into sub orbit, and yesterday's mission debuted the company's new crewed capsule.

The new capsule, named RSS First Step, included upgrades such as:

Speakers in the cabin with a microphone and a push-to-talk button at each seat so astronauts can continuously talk to Mission Control.

The first flight of the crew alert system with a panel at each seat relaying important safety messages to passengers.

Cushioned wall linings and sound suppression devices to reduce ambient noise inside the capsule.

Environmental systems, including a cooling system and humidity controls to regulate temperature and prevent capsule windows from fogging during flight, as well as carbon dioxide scrubbing.

Six seats.

No set date has been shared about when we can expect Blue Origin to launch humans into space aboard its new rocket and capsule, but the vessel launched on Thursday will be the same one that will ultimately launch and land humans into space and back.

Watch the whole launch below:

Click to expand...

Tuckerfan · Apr 14, 2021

We Are Borg · Apr 14, 2021

Looks like a giant cock.

We Are Borg · Jun 7, 2021

Jeff Bezos is going into space next month.

Tuckerfan · Jun 7, 2021

In all seriousness, that's a pretty ballsy of a "fuck you" move on Bezos' part. Musk has managed to do all kinds of shit with his rockets, but he's never flown on one, and Branson said he'll take the first commercial Virgin Galactic flight, but that hasn't happened yet. Presumably, the others will match the dickwaving gauntlet that has been thrown down.

Bickendan · Jun 21, 2021

We Are Borg said: ↑

Jeff Bezos is going into space next month.

Click to expand...

So long as Sterling Archer's the pilot...

Chaos Descending · Jun 22, 2021

We Are Borg said: ↑

Jeff Bezos is going into space next month.

Click to expand...

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/20/1008...on-to-stop-jeff-bezos-from-returning-to-earth

Tens Of Thousands Sign Petition To Stop Jeff Bezos From Returning To Earth

We Are Borg · Jul 20, 2021

Bezos about to lift off.

We Are Borg · Jul 20, 2021

We Are Borg · Jul 20, 2021

Successful touchdown of both the booster and capsule.

Nyx · Jul 20, 2021

Shame.

Nyx · Jul 20, 2021

In honor of Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson:

Lanzman · Jul 20, 2021

Was really hoping the aliens would snatch Bezos while he was up there.

We Are Borg · Jul 20, 2021

Lanzman said: ↑

Was really hoping the aliens would snatch Bezos while he was up there.
Click to expand...

The parachute failing to deploy would have done the job.

We Are Borg · Jul 20, 2021

I felt like one of those redneck trailer trash NASCAR fans, watching Richard Branson last week and Jeff Bezos today.

All I wanted to see was some really good crashes and 'splosions.

shootER · Jul 20, 2021

steve2^4 · Jul 20, 2021

I don't get it.

We Are Borg · Jul 21, 2021

steve2^4 said: ↑

I don't get it.
Click to expand...

Bend over and Bezos will give it to you.

Tuckerfan · Aug 18, 2021

Tuckerfan · Aug 23, 2021

Wonder why.

Blue Origin Employees Are Jumping Ship

Jeff Bezos might have felt triumphant when he rocketed toward the edge of space last month, but apparently the same can’t be said about other employees at Blue Origin. On Friday, CNBC was first to report that over a dozen engineers had left Bezos’s company in recent weeks, with some departing for high-ranking roles at rival spaceflight outfits.

Among the major names that departed Blue Origin were Nitin Arora—the lead engineer on Blue Origin’s lunar lander program—and Lauren Lyons, who announced earlier this month that she’d taken on a role as the Chief Operating Officer at Firefly Aerospace. Arora, meanwhile, said in a LinkedIn post last week that he’d taken a role at SpaceX. Fox Business confirmed that other prominent exits from the company included ex-NASA astronaut Jeff Ashby, along with Steve Bennet, who helped helm the New Shepard launch program.

Bezos’s company recently lost out to SpaceX for a key NASA contract to develop a lunar lander for the Artemis program, a decision over which Blue Origin is now suing. Earlier this year, NASA backtracked on initial plans to award multiple companies with development contracts for the agency’s Human Landing System (HLS) program, instead awarding $2.9 billion in funding solely to SpaceX. Before last week’s lawsuit, Bezos had written an open letter to NASA administrator Bill Nelson, saying that his company would cover billions in costs if they could have a piece of the contract.

A Blue Origin spokesperson told CNBC that, in spite of the turnover, the company was growing at a rapid pace, adding 850 people to its headcount in 2020 alone and adding another 650 so far this year. “We continue to fill out major leadership roles in manufacturing, quality, engine design, and vehicle design,” they said. “It’s a team we’re building and we have great talent.”

Still, these high-profile departures are a good reminder that the business of space can be a hard one to break into, even for the billionaire founder of Amazon. We saw as much late last year when Blue Origins chief operating officer exited the company, on the heels of multiple missed government contracts and a flurry of development delays. Maybe if Bezos put more effort into holding the company together and less into his cowboy cosplay, Blue Origin would be in better shape than it is today.
Click to expand...

We Are Borg · Aug 24, 2021

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Wonder why.

Blue Origin Employees Are Jumping Ship

Jeff Bezos might have felt triumphant when he rocketed toward the edge of space last month, but apparently the same can’t be said about other employees at Blue Origin. On Friday, CNBC was first to report that over a dozen engineers had left Bezos’s company in recent weeks, with some departing for high-ranking roles at rival spaceflight outfits.

Among the major names that departed Blue Origin were Nitin Arora—the lead engineer on Blue Origin’s lunar lander program—and Lauren Lyons, who announced earlier this month that she’d taken on a role as the Chief Operating Officer at Firefly Aerospace. Arora, meanwhile, said in a LinkedIn post last week that he’d taken a role at SpaceX. Fox Business confirmed that other prominent exits from the company included ex-NASA astronaut Jeff Ashby, along with Steve Bennet, who helped helm the New Shepard launch program.

Bezos’s company recently lost out to SpaceX for a key NASA contract to develop a lunar lander for the Artemis program, a decision over which Blue Origin is now suing. Earlier this year, NASA backtracked on initial plans to award multiple companies with development contracts for the agency’s Human Landing System (HLS) program, instead awarding $2.9 billion in funding solely to SpaceX. Before last week’s lawsuit, Bezos had written an open letter to NASA administrator Bill Nelson, saying that his company would cover billions in costs if they could have a piece of the contract.

A Blue Origin spokesperson told CNBC that, in spite of the turnover, the company was growing at a rapid pace, adding 850 people to its headcount in 2020 alone and adding another 650 so far this year. “We continue to fill out major leadership roles in manufacturing, quality, engine design, and vehicle design,” they said. “It’s a team we’re building and we have great talent.”

Still, these high-profile departures are a good reminder that the business of space can be a hard one to break into, even for the billionaire founder of Amazon. We saw as much late last year when Blue Origins chief operating officer exited the company, on the heels of multiple missed government contracts and a flurry of development delays. Maybe if Bezos put more effort into holding the company together and less into his cowboy cosplay, Blue Origin would be in better shape than it is today.
Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Why would you want to work for Blue Origin or VirginGalactic when you can, you know, work for space companies/organizations that are actually doing shit, like SpaceX or JPL?

Tuckerfan · Aug 29, 2021

We Are Borg · Aug 29, 2021

Seriously: fuck Blue Origin.

Tuckerfan · Oct 4, 2021

steve2^4 · Oct 4, 2021

Twenty-one current and former employees of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin claim the space company is a “toxic” workplace, according to an essay posted Thursday.

Led by former Blue Origin head of employee communications Alexandra Abrams, the essay claims that the company pushes workers to sign strict nondisclosure agreements, stifles internal feedback, disregards safety concerns, and creates a sexist environment for women. It also gave examples of alleged sexual harassment.

“I’ve gotten far enough away from it that I’m not afraid enough to let them silence me anymore,” Abrams said in a CBS interview that aired Thursday.

The essay was published Thursday on the Lioness website. It was signed by Abrams and said it was endorsed by 20 other current and former employees whose names were not listed.

In a response to CNBC’s request for comment, Blue Origin vice president of communications Linda Mills said Abrams was “dismissed for cause” in 2019 “after repeated warnings for issues involving federal export control regulations.”

Responding to Blue Origin, Abrams told CNBC in a statement that she “never received any warnings, verbal or written, from management regarding issues involving federal export control regulations.” Source
Click to expand...

Chaos Descending · Oct 4, 2021

Captain Kirk finally going into space for real.

https://apnews.com/article/william-...e-jeff-bezos-e10877d624a4cc0be9385585c2647cdd

Captain Kirk is rocketing into space next week — boldly going where no other sci-fi actors have gone.
Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, Blue Origin, announced Monday that “Star Trek” actor William Shatner will blast off from West Texas on Oct. 12.
“Yes, it’s true; I’m going to be a ‘rocket man!’” the 90-year-old tweeted. He added: “It’s never too late to experience new things.”
Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is a huge fan of the sci-fi series and even had a cameo as a high-ranking alien in the 2016 film “Star Trek Beyond.” His rocket company invited Shatner to fly as its guest.
Shatner will become the oldest person to go to space. He’ll join three others — two of them paying customers — aboard a Blue Origin capsule. He would have been the first actor in space if Russia weren’t launching an actress and a film director to the International Space Station on Tuesday for almost two weeks of moviemaking.
Click to expand...

Tuckerfan · Oct 4, 2021

Chaos Descending said: ↑

Captain Kirk finally going into space for real.

https://apnews.com/article/william-...e-jeff-bezos-e10877d624a4cc0be9385585c2647cdd

Captain Kirk is rocketing into space next week — boldly going where no other sci-fi actors have gone.
Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, Blue Origin, announced Monday that “Star Trek” actor William Shatner will blast off from West Texas on Oct. 12.
“Yes, it’s true; I’m going to be a ‘rocket man!’” the 90-year-old tweeted. He added: “It’s never too late to experience new things.”
Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is a huge fan of the sci-fi series and even had a cameo as a high-ranking alien in the 2016 film “Star Trek Beyond.” His rocket company invited Shatner to fly as its guest.
Shatner will become the oldest person to go to space. He’ll join three others — two of them paying customers — aboard a Blue Origin capsule. He would have been the first actor in space if Russia weren’t launching an actress and a film director to the International Space Station on Tuesday for almost two weeks of moviemaking.
Click to expand...

Click to expand...

https://wordforge.net/index.php?threads/shat-in-spaaaaace.121952/

Chaos Descending · Oct 4, 2021

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Chaos Descending said: ↑

Captain Kirk finally going into space for real.

https://apnews.com/article/william-...e-jeff-bezos-e10877d624a4cc0be9385585c2647cdd

Captain Kirk is rocketing into space next week — boldly going where no other sci-fi actors have gone.
Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, Blue Origin, announced Monday that “Star Trek” actor William Shatner will blast off from West Texas on Oct. 12.
“Yes, it’s true; I’m going to be a ‘rocket man!’” the 90-year-old tweeted. He added: “It’s never too late to experience new things.”
Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is a huge fan of the sci-fi series and even had a cameo as a high-ranking alien in the 2016 film “Star Trek Beyond.” His rocket company invited Shatner to fly as its guest.
Shatner will become the oldest person to go to space. He’ll join three others — two of them paying customers — aboard a Blue Origin capsule. He would have been the first actor in space if Russia weren’t launching an actress and a film director to the International Space Station on Tuesday for almost two weeks of moviemaking.
Click to expand...

Click to expand...

https://wordforge.net/index.php?threads/shat-in-spaaaaace.121952/
Click to expand...

This is the Blue Origin Space News Thread so it deserves to be here, and I don't want to deal with the Red Room BS lately. So, whatever.

Tuckerfan · Oct 4, 2021

Chaos Descending said: ↑

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Chaos Descending said: ↑

Captain Kirk finally going into space for real.

https://apnews.com/article/william-...e-jeff-bezos-e10877d624a4cc0be9385585c2647cdd

Captain Kirk is rocketing into space next week — boldly going where no other sci-fi actors have gone.
Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, Blue Origin, announced Monday that “Star Trek” actor William Shatner will blast off from West Texas on Oct. 12.
“Yes, it’s true; I’m going to be a ‘rocket man!’” the 90-year-old tweeted. He added: “It’s never too late to experience new things.”
Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is a huge fan of the sci-fi series and even had a cameo as a high-ranking alien in the 2016 film “Star Trek Beyond.” His rocket company invited Shatner to fly as its guest.
Shatner will become the oldest person to go to space. He’ll join three others — two of them paying customers — aboard a Blue Origin capsule. He would have been the first actor in space if Russia weren’t launching an actress and a film director to the International Space Station on Tuesday for almost two weeks of moviemaking.
Click to expand...

Click to expand...

https://wordforge.net/index.php?threads/shat-in-spaaaaace.121952/
Click to expand...

This is the Blue Origin Space News Thread so it deserves to be here, and I don't want to deal with the Red Room BS lately. So, whatever.
Click to expand...

That’s not a Red Room thread.

Log in or Sign up

The Blue Origin Space News Thread

Tuckerfan BMF

Tuckerfan BMF

Tuckerfan BMF

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

Tuckerfan BMF

Bickendan Custom Title Administrator Faceless Mook Writer

Chaos Descending 14th Level Human Cleric

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

Nyx Guest

Nyx Guest

Lanzman Vast, Cool and Unsympathetic Formerly Important

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

shootER Insubordinate...and churlish Administrator

steve2^4 Aged Meat

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

Tuckerfan BMF

Tuckerfan BMF

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

Tuckerfan BMF

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

Tuckerfan BMF

steve2^4 Aged Meat

Chaos Descending 14th Level Human Cleric

Tuckerfan BMF

Chaos Descending 14th Level Human Cleric

Tuckerfan BMF

Log in or Sign up

The Blue Origin Space News Thread

Tuckerfan BMF

Tuckerfan BMF

Tuckerfan BMF

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

Tuckerfan BMF

Bickendan Custom Title Administrator Faceless Mook Writer

Chaos Descending 14th Level Human Cleric

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

Nyx Guest

Nyx Guest

Lanzman Vast, Cool and Unsympathetic Formerly Important

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

shootER Insubordinate...and churlish Administrator

steve2^4 Aged Meat

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

Tuckerfan BMF

Tuckerfan BMF

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

Tuckerfan BMF

We Are Borg Republican Democrat

Tuckerfan BMF

steve2^4 Aged Meat

Chaos Descending 14th Level Human Cleric

Tuckerfan BMF

Chaos Descending 14th Level Human Cleric

Tuckerfan BMF

Useful Searches