Blue Origin Just Completed Its Latest Shepard Rocket Launch

Jeff Bezos‘s Blue Origin is one step closer to bringing civilians on suborbital space trips.

The aerospace firm’s New Shepard flight NS-27 successfully launched at 11:25 a.m. Wednesday morning in Texas, marking the 27th mission in the program’s history and the unveiling of its second human-rated vehicle. The new crew capsule, the RSS Kármán Line, is said to feature technology upgrades, such as expanded flight capacity, that improve its performance and reusability. 

The New Shepard program, named after American astronaut Alan Shepard, was designed to take humans on suborbital trips high above Earth. However, this current flight, which is composed of a rocket and a capsule, had no passengers on board. Instead, the vehicle carried five payloads on the booster and seven payloads inside the crew capsule. Interestingly, one of the payloads contained tens of thousands of postcards as part of an educational project organized by Blue Origin’s nonprofit, Club for the Future. The initiative collects cards written by students, which are then flown into space aboard the commercial rocket and then returned to them as a memento.  

The NS-27’s launch window was originally slated for October 7; however, it was pushed back so the team could troubleshoot a technical issue. Another liftoff attempt was scheduled for October 13, but the mission was delayed again due to a problem with the vehicle’s GPS.  

“We look forward to welcoming crew onboard RSS Kármán Line soon and offering the New Shepard flight experience to people across the world from all backgrounds,” Phil Joyce, senior vice president of New Shepard, said in a statement. “On every New Shepard mission, we’ve witnessed people return to Earth changed by this experience, and with a renewed sense of commitment to preserve our planet.” 

Blue Origin’s latest space venture is one of many that have helped the brand carry people on suborbital flights amid growing demand. Most notably, 93-year-old Emmy-winner William Shatner flew with Blue Origin back in 2021. At the time, the Star Trek actor, touted as the oldest person to have traveled to space, was joined by three crewmates aboard the New Shepard rocket. Blue Origin is also developing what’s being billed as the first commercial space station dubbed Orbital Reef. The solar-powered “mixed-used business park” will float 311 miles above the Earth and is aiming to be operational by 2030, if all goes to plan.