Had Failed To Fly, Blue Origin Successfully Launched The 24th New Shepard Mission

The launch of the New Shepard suborbital vehicle (photo: dock. Blue Origin)

JAKARTA After failing at last year's launch, Blue Origin finally managed to launch its 24th New Shepard suborbital vehicle on Tuesday, December 19 at 11.42 local time.

Launched from the Launch Site of One in West Texas, New Shepard carries payloads from the United States Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), research institutes, and various commercial companies.

Of the many parties who joined the launch this time, New Shepard managed to carry more than 150 payloads on just one flight. However, Blue Origin did not specify what payloads they were carrying.

For the success of this launch, New Shepard Senior Vice President Phil Joyce thanked various parties who supported their launch, particularly Club for the Future, an educational nonprofit organization, which put 38,000 postcards on payload.

"Special thanks to all our customers who are flying important science today and students who donated postcards to advance our future in life and work in space for Earth's interests," Joyce said.

Later, the tens of thousands of postcards brought by New Shepard will be returned to the maker. When submitted, all the postcards from the Postcards to Space program will be labeled with the words, "Flying to Space."

Last year, New Shepard faced a huge challenge after it failed to launch. At that time, the capsule carrying a lot of payloads managed to land safely, but its driving module was destroyed and unusable.

From the results of Blue Origin's investigation in March, the BE-3PM engine nozzle was damaged due to thermal problems. The company says that the New Shepard engine is actually working hotter than it should be.

Before re-launching New Shepard, Blue Origin had to complete an investigation from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for more than six months. Although it took quite some time, the launch of New Shepard was finally able to run without a hitch.