The Blue Origin Space News Thread

We Are Borg · Oct 4, 2021

Tuckerfan said: ↑

That’s not a Red Room thread.

View attachment 49019
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He's probably got me in ignore.

Chaos Descending · Oct 4, 2021

Tuckerfan said: ↑

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
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https://wordforge.net/index.php?threads/shat-in-spaaaaace.121952/
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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.
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That’s not a Red Room thread.

View attachment 49019
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Ok.

In that case:

Me said:

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...

Tuckerfan · Oct 4, 2021

Chaos Descending said: ↑

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Chaos Descending said: ↑

Tuckerfan said: ↑

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.

View attachment 49019
Click to expand...

Ok.

In that case:

Me said:

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...

Click to expand...

Eh, given the great affection many people have for the Shat, I don’t see why it shouldn’t have its own thread.

Chaos Descending · Oct 4, 2021

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Chaos Descending said: ↑

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Chaos Descending said: ↑

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.

View attachment 49019
Click to expand...

Ok.

In that case:

Me said:

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...

Click to expand...

Eh, given the great affection many people have for the Shat, I don’t see why it shouldn’t have its own thread.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying it shouldn't have its own thread. You're saying there shouldn't be a comment here, and I disagree with that.

Tuckerfan · Oct 4, 2021

Chaos Descending said: ↑

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Chaos Descending said: ↑

Tuckerfan said: ↑

That’s not a Red Room thread.

View attachment 49019
Click to expand...

Ok.

In that case:

Me said:

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...

Click to expand...

Eh, given the great affection many people have for the Shat, I don’t see why it shouldn’t have its own thread.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying it shouldn't have its own thread. You're saying there shouldn't be a comment here, and I disagree with that.
Click to expand...

You know I could have just deleted your post, right?

Chaos Descending · Oct 4, 2021

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Chaos Descending said: ↑

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Chaos Descending said: ↑

Ok.

In that case:
Click to expand...

Eh, given the great affection many people have for the Shat, I don’t see why it shouldn’t have its own thread.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying it shouldn't have its own thread. You're saying there shouldn't be a comment here, and I disagree with that.
Click to expand...

You know I could have just deleted your post, right?
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I really don't care. Delete my entire account if it pleases you.

We Are Borg · Oct 4, 2021

Tuckerfan said: ↑

You know I could have just deleted your post, right?
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You probably should.

Tuckerfan · Oct 25, 2021

We Are Borg · Oct 25, 2021

Tuckerfan said: ↑

View attachment 49589
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Um... yeah.

How about Blue Origin first figures out how to actually get into orbit, instead of a four-minute joyride?

Tuckerfan · Nov 4, 2021

Tuckerfan · Nov 5, 2021

Tom Hanks to Bezos: GFY

Tom Hanks On Why He Turned Down A Trip To Space With Bezos' Blue Origin

Tom Hanks, fiendishly lovable Hollywood actor and filmmaker, has said he turned down a ticket to go to space onboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket.

During an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Hanks was asked whether it was true he was offered a trip on Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital vehicle before William Shatner, who was blasted off in mid-October in their second-ever crewed trip to space.

“Well, yeah, provided I’d pay,” Hanks replied to Kimmel. “You know, it costs like 28 million bucks or something like that.”

“And I’m doing good, Jimmy, I’m doing good, but I ain’t paying 28 [million] bucks!”

Hanks went on to explain that he wasn’t interested in spending that much cash for a 12-minute flight that would predominantly consist of an uncomfortable launch and an equally unpleasant landing.

“You know what, we could simulate the experience of going to space right now,” Hanks said, before mimicking the rattling and shaking involved in a rocket launch in a dramatic Hanks-esque style.

“I don't need to spend 28 million bucks to do that," he added.

Blue Origin doesn't disclose any "ticket prices" for space tourism trips aboard their New Shepherd suborbital vehicle. However, it was revealed that an anonymous bidder paid $28 million for a seat onboard the first crewed spaceflight of New Shepherd, alongside Bezos, his brother, and Wally Funk, a pilot who was denied the chance to go into space in the 1960s because she was a woman. This bidder was later pulled out because they were reportedly too busy and was then replaced by 18-year-old Oliver Daemen.

Blue Origin launched its second crewed spaceflight on October 13, featuring the legendary Star Trek actor Wiliam Shatner. He was joined by Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of Planet Labs and a former NASA engineer, Glen de Vries of French software company Dassault Systèmes, and Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations and a former flight controller with NASA.

As per their website, they're planning on one more crewed flight this year and have several more lined up for 2022. Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that Hanks will be along for the ride.
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Paladin · Nov 12, 2021

Glen de Vries, who went into space with William Shatner a month ago, has been killed in a plane crash.

Tuckerfan · Dec 11, 2021

We Are Borg · Dec 11, 2021

No one cares.

steve2^4 · Dec 11, 2021

Rollercoaster for the rich.

Tuckerfan · Dec 17, 2021

steve2^4 · Dec 17, 2021

Sir, this is women's lingerie. The tool department is over there.

Tuckerfan · Dec 17, 2021

steve2^4 said: ↑

Sir, this is women's lingerie. The tool department is over there.
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You have no idea of the constraints that I'm working under when I try to post most times. Here's an illustration of what I have to deal with.

This is what I meant to post.

Post-flight interview: Astronaut's daughter reflects on her own launch on Blue Origin

"It is fun to have people call me Astronaut Churchly ... but I am torn, because I have a whole other definition of 'astronaut.'"

With her hair floating in the weightless environment of space, Laura Shepard Churchley looks out one of the large windows aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard capsule during the NS-19 suborbital flight on Dec. 11, 2021. (Image credit: Blue Origin)
Laura Shepard Churchley is not sure if she is now an astronaut.

The eldest daughter of Alan Shepard, America's first astronaut to fly into space, Churchley followed in her father's footsteps — and trajectory — lifting off on Dec. 11 aboard the New Shepard, Blue Origin's suborbital launch vehicle named after her dad. The 10-minute flight established Churchley as the 605th person (and 372nd American) to soar above Earth, but she did so without needing the months- or years-long preparation her father and his fellow astronauts had to undergo.

"From my experience, from sixth grade until Daddy passed away, and then after Daddy — actually, I have been aware of space and astronauts forever, and I don't know if I feel like an astronaut," Churchley said in an interview with collectSPACE.com on Thursday (Dec. 16), five days after she lifted off as a guest of Blue Origin on its New Shepard 19 (NS-19) spaceflight. "Because I didn't train and they trained for years for their flights."

Not that she minds others giving her the title. Upon landing, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos pinned a set of the company's astronaut wings on her flight suit and she will be among the last people to receive commercial astronaut wings as awarded by the Federal Aviation Administration. (The FAA is ending the program at the end of the year now that multiple U.S. companies are sending people into space.)

"It is fun to have people call me Astronaut Churchly and I am glad we were among the last (to get FAA wings), but I am torn, because I have a whole other definition of 'astronaut' because of all the astronauts I have known. So I don't really consider myself an astronaut."

Whatever she is called now, Churchley is certain of one thing: she greatly enjoyed being the first "real Shepard" on board the New Shepard. What started as a passing comment at a gala for the 50th anniversary of her father's Apollo 14 moon mission became the experience of her lifetime.

Churchley recounted her flight and the events that led up to it during two calls with collectSPACE, one that preceded and one that followed her launch, as well as a brief exchange beside her rocket within a few hours of her landing. Her comments here have been combined from those conversations and edited for length and clarity.

collectSPACE (cS): Before we talk about the flight itself, how did you come to be invited to fly with Blue Origin?

Laura Shepard Churchley: It started in June of this year. There is an organization called Back To Space that put together a 50th anniversary celebration for Apollo 14, the mission when Daddy landed on the moon. The woman who started it is the granddaughter of Stuart Roosa, who was on the Apollo 14 crew as well.

It was during that celebration, when I made the comment, "Wouldn't it be nice if a real Shepard rode on the New Shepard?" and apparently somebody knew Bezos or had a connection to him. I don't know exactly what happened. No one has told me, but it was at the end of September when I received a call and they asked if I wanted to be on the next launch. I said yes.

cS: Skipping ahead to just a few days before you were scheduled to launch, you arrived at Blue Origin's Launch Site One in West Texas to undergo training. How did that go?

Churchley: We had two and a half days of pretty much eight-hour days [of instruction] and it was extremely informative. Plus, we got to go into the simulator at least 20 times and run the 10-minute flight. So when I strapped into my harness on the morning of our launch, I was cool as a cucumber. I couldn't believe I knew what was going to happen before it happened. It was just like having another run in the simulator. The training was intense, but certainly worth it.

cS: I understand that the New Shepard simulator reproduces some of the sounds that you experience in flight, but what about the G-forces (the force of gravity)?

Churchley: They told us about it. Going up, it was like two G's [twice the force of gravity]. I could lift my hands off of the armrest and I really didn't feel it in my chest because, while we were not prone, we we were not sitting straight up and that helped.

Coming down, though, it was 6.5 G's and I couldn't lift my arms off of the armrest. I could feel this heavy, heavy pressure on my chest. So I took as big a breath as I could and I held it, because I knew it was only going to be like that for 30 seconds.

cS: Just like your father's launch on Freedom 7, your liftoff experienced a weather delay. Were you frustrated by the scrub?

Churchley: Well, we were told about it during our training on the morning before we were originally scheduled to launch and so everyone was picking up their phones to call the people they had coming so that they could redo their schedules and it was quiet. It was just quiet and we all were a little unhappy. But as soon as we took off our flight suits and got into our street clothes, we found things to do.

I went for [an airplane] flight with [crewmate] Evan Dick, and our trainer, Kevin, and we flew for over an hour. Evan made us weightless [by flying parabolas], which was fun. And then after we returned, we went to lunch and got a golf game going with [our crewmate] Michael [Strahan] and his best friend.

The nine hole golf course in Van Horn was closed that day, so someone called the mayor and the mayor went and opened the golf course for us. I've never played a desert course before. It's a bit different looking of a course than what I'm used to, but we had a wonderful time.

And so the break was welcome, because we had been going straight for four days. It was just perfect. It's just what everybody needed. And then we went right back into a half day of training the next day. And then we shot off, and everybody was perfectly content because we knew what was going to happen.

cS: You mentioned being "as cool a cucumber" on the day of the launch. How did your feelings that morning compare to 60 years ago, when from a boarding school in St. Louis you watched your dad lift off on his first spaceflight?

Churchley: It's usually harder for people on the ground to watch a launch. I was in the headmaster's house with the Dean of Girls, the Dean of Boys, all of the house mothers, the principal of the school, the president of the corporation — all of the people that an eighth-grade person did not want to have to talk too long. They put me on a piano bench in front of cute little black and white TV.

And I leaned forward really close to the television and I said, "Daddy, please don't mess up." But I knew he'd be fine. He had talked to us throughout the two years of his training and I knew NASA was going to bring him home safely, so there was nothing for me to worry about.

cS: Let's step through your own launch. Did the ascent meet your expectations?

Churchley: The launch was very exciting. You could feel the strength of the rocket taking off. It was just so powerful. That was something that they couldn't simulate in training. It kind of reminded me of driving with Daddy in the Corvette, when he'd step on the accelerator and my head would go back into the chair. It was very exhilarating.

The only thing that was a little spooky is that it launches at an angle. It doesn't go straight up. And so there were about eight seconds where we all were kind of hesitant because it was a feeling we hadn't had before. It wasn't going straight and so we were a little concerned about that, but after about eight seconds it straightened out and everything was fine. [cS note: The angle is to allow the rocket to clear the tower.]

cS: Next came stage separation, when the booster dropped away from your crew capsule. From that point on, you coasted up into space.

Churchley: They tried to simulate for us the noise [of the separation], but it was a lot louder. We were anticipating a noise, so just because it was louder didn't bother us. It was fine.

But then we couldn't sense if we were going up or we were going down. It was as if we were just holding still. At least that's what it felt like. But we were going up, so it worked out fine. And then weightlessness was just really, really fun.

cS: What was your first indication that you were floating?

Churchley: You could feel it in your arms, they were lifting up, so that was the first sensation. Then [mission control] alerted us we were going to be weightless so get ready to get out of the chair.

cS: And so you unbuckled and then what?

Churchley: I let go of everything and I was just lifted up out of my seat. I then did hang on because I wasn't sure how high I would go.

I tried doing a handstand, which I had tried to practice [on the ground] but I couldn't get my legs up because it's just a small 12 feet [3.7 m] diameter. I thought maybe it would be different when I was weightless, and it was! All I did was put my hands down on the armrest and then my head on the seat — I don't know how my legs got up in the air, but they did.

And then I got to do some somersaults. Finally, I thought I should look out the window. The black was just incredible, it makes Earth looks so tiny. I thought possibly I would be seeing stars, but there was too much light, so we didn't see any stars. But it is pretty spectacular because it is inviting. You know, "Come on, get your flashlight and come out here and let me show you what I have out here..."
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steve2^4 · Dec 18, 2021

The cat has a low opinion of your work.

Tuckerfan · Mar 17, 2022

Jeff Bezos is, perhaps, the greatest troll ever. He's sending Pete Davidson up on the next flight. What's trollish about that? Kanye West has gone bugfuck over the fact that Kim Kardashian is chewing on Pete. Elon Musk and Kanye are friends who've been hanging out a lot with one another since they got dumped. Kanye is almost certainly going to make Musk's life a living hell until Musk agrees to send Kanye up on one of his rockets. One has to wonder if Musk will bring Kanye down, though.

We Are Borg · Mar 18, 2022

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Jeff Bezos is, perhaps, the greatest troll ever. He's sending Pete Davidson up on the next flight. What's trollish about that? Kanye West has gone bugfuck over the fact that Kim Kardashian is chewing on Pete. Elon Musk and Kanye are friends who've been hanging out a lot with one another since they got dumped. Kanye is almost certainly going to make Musk's life a living hell until Musk agrees to send Kanye up on one of his rockets. One has to wonder if Musk will bring Kanye down, though.
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Hmmm... that gives me an idea.

We should set up a GoFundMe to pay for one-way SpaceX launches for certain celebrities and politicians.

We Are Borg · Mar 18, 2022

Tuckerfan said: ↑

He's sending Pete Davidson up on the next flight.
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No, he's not.

Tuckerfan · Mar 19, 2022

We Are Borg said: ↑

Tuckerfan said: ↑

He's sending Pete Davidson up on the next flight.
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No, he's not.
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You know what they say, “In space, no one can hear you scream for attention.”

Tuckerfan · Sep 13, 2022

Blue Origin has an oopsie. https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeff-...cket-explodes-in-mid-air-minutes-after-launch

We Are Borg · Sep 13, 2022

Tuckerfan said: ↑

Blue Origin has an oopsie. https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeff-...cket-explodes-in-mid-air-minutes-after-launch
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Pretty good escape system, at least.

Tuckerfan · Sep 21, 2022

Tuckerfan · Oct 28, 2022

Oopsie poopsie.

Amazon may have to turn to SpaceX for help launching its Starlink rival service

Amazon is working toward the launch of two prototype satellites for its SpaceX Starlink-rivaling internet service, Project Kuiper.

The delivery giant plans to launch these first two satellites at some point next year, and earlier this year, it penned what it calls "the largest commercial procurement of launch vehicles in history."

Amazon signed that agreement, totaling 83 Kuiper launches, with United Launch Alliance (ULA), European firm Arianespace, and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.

There's one important caveat, though. Those launches partially rely on rockets that have yet to reach orbit, including Blue Origin's New Glenn and the Ariane 6. In a webcast with The Washington Post, Amazon senior VP of devices and services Dave Limp touched on this concern, and he refused to rule out asking the company's rival SpaceX for help with its launches.

Amazon is playing catch-up with Starlink
Amazon's two prototype satellites are set to launch aboard an ABL Space RS1 rocket next year. The Project Kuiper mega-constellation is eventually expected to total 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit, bringing high-speed internet anywhere in the world, much like SpaceX's Starlink. SpaceX currently has more than 3,000 satellites in orbit, and it aims to eventually send roughly 30,000 more up to the skies.

That's a lot of catching up to do, and Amazon may even need to turn to its rival for help, Limp conceded during his recent webcast interview with The Washington Post. "You'd be crazy not to, given their track record," Limp said after he was asked whether Amazon might turn to SpaceX to launch its Kuiper satellites.

Amazon's Project Kuiper is very far behind Starlink, with the e-commerce giant having just announced the opening of a new satellite development facility in Washington state. It's hard not to draw comparisons between the current situation and the rivalry between Blue Origin and SpaceX — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin was founded two years before SpaceX, but it has yet to build a rocket capable of reaching orbit.

Elon Musk accused Jeff Bezos of being a "copycat"
It will, of course, be very interesting to see if Amazon does reach out to SpaceX for its launch services and how SpaceX reacts. Blue Origin was famously tied up in a protracted legal dispute with SpaceX and NASA over the latter's choice of SpaceX's Starship as a lunar lander for Artemis III over Blue Origin's option.

Bezos also criticized the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last year, claiming that SpaceX was held to a different, more favorable set of rules than other companies.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk responded to that accusation on Twitter by writing, "it does not serve the public to hamstring Starlink today for an Amazon satellite system that is at best several years away from operation."

Musk has taken several swipes at Bezos over the years. When Amazon's Project Kuiper was first announced in 2019, Musk tweeted a response to the announcement, saying, "Jeff Bezos copycat." Musk, who is known for his controversial tweets and who is now the owner of Twitter, has also suggested zapping Bezos "with our space lasers" and even accused the Amazon founder of impotence on one occasion.
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Tuckerfan · Mar 2, 2023

What’s the Deal With Bezos’s Grounded Rocket?

Nobody's talking, even though they're planning for NASA sponsor flights in the near future.

Bickendan · Mar 9, 2023

Bezos can't get it up again?

Tuckerfan · Jun 9, 2023

Blue Origin is only a 'few weeks' away from relaunching New Shepard rocket

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