Pictured is the new Shepard
Not long ago, Amazon founder Bezos finally achieved his 18-year-old dream: flying into space on a rocket he developed, and after this success, the rich man said that he would let his "new Shepard" rocket carry 6 astronauts to space, is it true that Bezos intends to surpass Musk in the field of space manned?
Pictured is a passenger aboard the New Shepard
Although the "New Shepard" rocket used by Blue Origin for manned space flight is a fully recyclable rocket with its return capsule, this type of rocket is actually a very traditional single-stage rocket, once its only main booster runs out of propellant, its head capsule will be separated from the main body of the rocket, but the "New Shepard" will not be separated from the capsule when all the fuel is exhausted, but actively disconnected when the fuel is on the verge of a cordon. This ensures that the main body of the rocket can successfully complete its own soft landing.
The picture shows the Falcon rocket taking off
According to Blue Origin's design concept for the rocket, the New Shepard is really just a suborbital vehicle, and its main thruster will launch passengers directly to the edge of space, allowing them to enjoy the scenery of outer space, and then the exhausted return capsule will fall back into the atmosphere and activate its own buffer thrusters and parachutes to ensure that passengers can land safely from the spacecraft. But Blue Origin wants to surpass the space fork, still need to face certain difficulties, Musk's Falcon 9, is a rocket with two propulsion stages, and the two thrusters of the Falcon 9 can separately start their own landing devices, so that these rocket propulsion stages can be recovered on the landing platform on the ocean, and the Dragon spacecraft, as the signature equipment of the space fork company, has actually been able to fly to the height of docking with the International Space Station, and can already undertake the corresponding supply tasks for this site. If Blue Origin wants to compete with the Space Fork Company, it will need to develop at least a rocket with two propulsion stages, a spacecraft or a load capsule that can reach a flight altitude of 400 kilometers, and its launch cost must be lower than that of Falcon 9.
The picture shows the Dragon spaceship
Otherwise, even if Blue Origin's "New Shepard" can carry 6 people to take off, it can only send people to sub-orbit, far less competitive than can only carry 4 people, but the operation is equally simple and convenient, and has been able to enter orbit of the Dragon spacecraft, but the current Blue Origin company's "New Glenn" rocket is still in the experimental stage, and has not been directly put into operation, which makes Blue Origin Company not as good as the same as the U.S. private private company space fork company in terms of reputation and technical strength, so If Blue Origin wants to compete with the Space Fork, they need to put more resources into research and development. Perhaps, before Blue Origin competes with Musk's space fork for space manned, it may wish to try satellite launch work or space station supply missions, which will not only allow Blue Origin to get more resources, but also make other countries that need to launch satellites interested in Blue Origin's rocket program, and only when Blue Origin has enough customers, they can catch up with space fork companies in rocket production capacity and reputation, thus attracting more talents to provide services for their manned space engineering research and development.