Blue Origin Plans New Shepard Rocket Re-launch On 18 December

A summary of the Blue Origin's New Glenn milliic rocket. (photo: x @blueorigin)

JAKARTA - Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin plans to return the New Shepard suborbital rocket to flights on December 18. This was revealed by the company on Tuesday, December 12 in its efforts to resume the space tourism business.

"We are targeting a launch window that opens on December 18 for our next New Shepard payload mission," Blue Origin wrote on social network X, formerly known as Twitter. Although no human will participate, 33 scientific payloads and research will be brought, the company said in a statement, referring to cargo that would support experiments in space.

We’re targeting a launch window that opens on Dec. 18 for our next New Shepard payload mission. #NS24 will carry 33 science and research payloads as well as 38,000 @clubforfuture postcards to space. #FortheBenefitofEarth

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) December 12, 2023

We're targeting a launch window that opens on Dec. 18 for our next New Shepard payload mission. #NS24 will carry 33 science and research payloads as well as 38 thousand @clubforfuture postcards to space. #FortheBenefitofEarth

New Shepard, which traveled cargo and humans to the space limits, has been suspended since an unmanned mission in September 2022 failed about a minute after taking off from Texas, forcing rocket capsules full of NASA experiments to safely escape mid-flight.

In March, the company determined that "structural failure" in rocket engine nozzles caused a failure last year. No humans in it, although New Shepard had previously launched several missions carrying tourists, including Bezos, who founded Blue Origin in 2000, on rocket inaugural flights in 2021.

The FAA completed a review of New Shepard's investigation by Blue Origin in September, agreeing with the company's findings. However, the FAA requires Blue Origin to carry out 21 repair measures, including engine redesign and "organization changes."

New Shepard's re-release comes as Blue Origin seeks to launch a much larger rocket, the New Glenn, for the first time, planned for the end of 2024.

Although New Shepard has only reached space limits, New Glenn is designed to carry heavier payloads into orbit as the center of Blue Origin's goal of rivaling Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Bezos has reshuffled the company's leadership and corporate structure in recent months. Experienced Amazon executive Dave Limp began serving as CEO of Blue Origin earlier this month.