On March 31, Blue Origin flew its first manned mission of 2022, using a New Shepard suborbital rocket to send six people into space and return.
At 9:59 a.m., the New Shepard rocket lifted off from Launch Site One in western Texas.
(Source: Blue Origin)
It is understood that the launch was delayed by nearly an hour than expected, and Blue Origin later explained that it took them some time to solve the problem of the radio system for the rocket's downward telemetry.
Eventually, the capsule reached a peak altitude of about 107 kilometers and returned to the surface with the parachute about 10 minutes later. And 3 minutes ago, the rocket booster landed on a nearby launch pad.
The flight was the fourth manned mission in New Shepard's history and the second since the previous mission to carry a six-man flight, with the remaining two being four.
The 6 people in this mission call themselves "Roaring Twenties", which is also the name of the NS-20 mission. Five of them were paying customers: Marty Allen, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Jim Kitchen and George Nield. The last one is Gary Lai, the lead systems architect for Blue Origin's new Shepard team.
Figure | NS-20 Mission Crew (Source: Blue Origin)
It is worth mentioning that the sixth American comedian Pete Davidson, who was originally scheduled to be known for "Saturday Night Live", chose to quit three days after the flight list was announced, so Gary replaced him. Neither Blue Origin nor Davidson explained the reason for the withdrawal.
Gary was one of Blue Origin's first 20 employees and joined the company in 2004. He led the team in the design and development of many of the critical safety systems on the New Shepard Capsule, was involved in the development of the company's next-generation launch vehicles, the New Glenn, blue moon lunar landers, and was involved in nearly all of Blue Origin's product lines and strategic planning operations.
Both Alan and Mark have business backgrounds. During his tenure as CEO of Party America, Allen transformed the company from a small California company into a large national retailer. Mark runs a real estate company, Tricor International, with more than 17 million square feet of properties across the United States. He and Sharon are a couple, both philanthropists in the arts, sciences, health and education-related fields.
Sharon founded SpaceKids Global, a nonprofit in 2015 that inspires students to succeed in STEAM+ education, and she also focuses on empowering young girls.
Since 2010, Ketch has been a teacher at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School and is an entrepreneur and explorer.
Nilder's career revolved around the space industry. He is the founder and president of Commercial Space Technologies and has also served as deputy director of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation, which provides launch permits for new Shepard and other commercial launch vehicles.
At a news conference just hours after the NS-20 mission ended, all six crew members said the views during the flight and the minutes of weightlessness exceeded expectations.
Keech said: "The whole time I seemed to have a feeling of out-of-body experience, and other than that, I don't know what else to say. ”
Nilder said the flight experience made him fully aware of the importance of safety. Everyone needs to ensure absolute safety throughout the launch process, including the training they receive. Blue Origin is well prepared for this amazing experience.
Mark also expressed a similar view to Neald, saying that although the long wait in the capsule before launch had reduced his excitement and was very worried that the flight might not happen, when the engine was ignited, the whole world changed.
And when Gary said of the flight, "It's 10 times more intense than I thought, and for anyone who embraces it, nothing compares to this experience." ”
He also said that as blue origin's chief architect, part of the reason for participating in the mission was to confirm that there was still something to be done to improve the flight experience. Blue Origin is already making what he calls "Under the Hood" tweaks to new Shepard to reduce pre-flight processing time and reduce the cost of work.
Regarding Blue Origin's follow-up manned missions, the company's CEO, Bob Smith, said at the Feb. 18 FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference that they plan to increase this year's launch rate and at least double the number of people flying into space, but did not say how many launches are planned this year.
During the NS-20 mission's webcast, one host said blue origin expects to triple the number of people flying to space in 2022 compared to 14 launches in 2021.
-End-
reference:
https://spacenews.com/blue-origin-flies-six-on-first-new-shepard-suborbital-flight-of-2022/
https://www.blueorigin.com/news/ns-20-mission-updates