Blue Origin – Spaceflight Now

Blue Origin performs high-altitude test of crew escape motor

July 18, 2018

Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard booster launched Wednesday on an uncrewed test flight, sending a capsule on a brief jaunt into space over West Texas to demonstrate a key safety feature for space tourists and scientists riding on the company’s future rockets.

Video: Blue Origin flies New Shepard rocket for eighth time

April 29, 2018

Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster, topped with a capsule carrying a dummy dubbed Mannequin Skywalker, took off Sunday from the company’s sprawling test site in West Texas on a 10-minute trip to the edge of space and back.

Suborbital test flight moves Blue Origin closer to launching people

April 29, 2018

The privately-developed New Shepard booster, designed and built by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin, took off from a launch pad in West Texas, briefly flew into space with an instrumented capsule, and returned to a rocket-assisted landing Sunday in another test before humans climb aboard the suborbital spaceship.

Blue Origin preps for suborbital test flight Sunday

April 27, 2018

Blue Origin plans its next suborbital test launch Sunday from the company’s sprawling development complex in West Texas, the company’s owner Jeff Bezos announced Friday.

Blue Origin’s orbital rocket in the running to receive U.S. military investment

April 13, 2018

Blue Origin submitted a proposal late last year in what’s expected to be a four-way competition for U.S. Air Force funding to support development of new orbital-class rockets, a further step taken by the Jeff Bezos-owned company to break into the military launch market, industry officials said.

White House emphasizes industry over science in Space Council appointments

February 21, 2018

A roster of representatives from the commercial space industry, astronauts, retired military officers and politicians will advise the National Space Council as the top-level government panel seeks to reshape U.S. space policy, regulations and exploration strategies.

Photos: Upgraded New Shepard booster flies from West Texas

December 13, 2017

Blue Origin’s third New Shepard suborbital booster lifted off on its first brief up-and-down test flight Tuesday, soaring to an altitude of 322,000 feet over West Texas to prove out the rocket and its automated crew capsule, which flew with a dummy dubbed “Mannequin Skywalker” to simulate the conditions passengers riding the rocket will one day experience.

Blue Origin launches New Shepard test flight

December 13, 2017

Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, launched a reusable New Shepard sub-orbital rocket from the company’s west Texas launch site Tuesday, boosting an unpiloted crew capsule out of the dense lower atmosphere for a brief foray into space before a parachute descent to Earth.

Blue Origin could fly new suborbital vehicle this week

December 10, 2017

An airspace restriction over West Texas posted on the Federal Aviation Administration’s website and filed by Blue Origin suggests the company founded by Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos could launch its upgraded reusable New Shepard suborbital booster for the first time this week.

World’s largest methane-fueled rocket engine test-fired by Blue Origin

October 20, 2017

Blue Origin has conducted the first hotfire test of its BE-4 rocket engine in West Texas, a powerplant fueled by liquified natural gas and liquid oxygen that will power the company’s heavy-lift New Glenn rocket and perhaps United Launch Alliance’s next-generation Vulcan launcher, officials announced Thursday.