New Shepard

The New Shepard is a fully reusable US launch vehicle provided by the company Blue Origin will be developed and operated. It is designed as a manned rocket for suborbital space tourism , but has also been used for experiments in weightlessness . Up to six people can be transported per flight, with a single ticket price (as of 2019) of several hundred thousand US dollars .

Landing a New Shepard (2017)

On November 23, 2015, after reaching an altitude of 100.5 km, the first controlled vertical landing of a New Shepard succeeded. This makes it the first rocket to land in a controlled manner after crossing the Kármán Line , which is internationally recognized as the boundary to space . A first manned flight took place on July 20, 2021.

The New Shepard was named after Alan Shepard , the first American astronaut . His first space flight was also suborbital.

history

Early stage of development

The development of the New Shepard began in 2005. Initially, vertical takeoffs and landings were carried out with the prototype Charon . This was still equipped with a jet drive. In 2006 Goddard , a prototype based on Blue Origins own engine developments, was tested. About five years later, on May 6, 2011, an initial test of the New Shepard Propulsion Module (PM2) was undertaken. During a second test on August 24th, the rocket had to self-destruct due to flight instability.

A first test of the New Shepard space capsule was undertaken on October 19, 2012. A so-called “pad abort test” was carried out, in which the removal of the capsule was tested in an emergency situation. This landed softly under parachutes after an altitude of 703 m was reached.

In April 2015 it was announced that the BE-3 rocket engine , which is supposed to power the New Shepard, had successfully passed all tests. In addition, a first test of the entire rocket has been announced for the end of the year. More flights would follow over the next few years. In the same month, the FAA announced that the approval for the New Shepard test program had already been granted.

Test flights

The test program, which lasted several years, was started in 2015 and continued in 2018. In mid-2016, payloads from universities and NASA began to be transported on test flights.

Flight number.	date	rocket	Result	Remarks
1	April 29, 2015	New Shepard 1	Partial success	93.5 km altitude, capsule recovered, drive module destroyed when attempting to land
2	23rd November 2015	New Shepard 2	success	100.5 km altitude
3	January 22, 2016	New Shepard 2	success	101.7 km altitude
4th	2nd April 2016	New Shepard 2	success	100 km altitude
5	19th June 2016	New Shepard 2	success	101 km altitude, first live webcast of the flight, simulation of a parachute failure
6th	5th October 2016	New Shepard 2	success	93.7 km altitude, successful test of the demolition system in the capsule
7th	December 12, 2017	New Shepard 3	success	99.3 km altitude, test dummy and scientific experiments on board, first flight of the Capsule 2.0 crew
8th	April 29, 2018	New Shepard 3	success	107.0 km altitude, test dummy and scientific experiments on board.
9	18th July 2018	New Shepard 3	success	118.8 km altitude, test dummy and scientific experiments on board, successful test of the launch abort system at high altitude
10	January 23, 2019	New Shepard 3	success	106.9 km altitude, scientific experiments on board
11	2nd May 2019	New Shepard 3	success	105.6 km altitude, scientific experiments on board
12th	December 11, 2019	New Shepard 3	success	104.5 km altitude, scientific experiments, art projects, postcards from the "Club for the Future"
13	October 13, 2020	New Shepard 3	success	107.0 km altitude, scientific experiments, sensors for moon landings in the Artemis program
14th	January 14, 2021	New Shepard 4	success	106.9 km altitude, test of the systems for manned flights, test dummy and 50,000 postcards of the “Club for the Future” on board
15th	April 14, 2021	New Shepard 4	success	106 km altitude, test of the systems for manned flights, test dummy and 25,000 postcards of the “Club for the Future” on board

Built missiles

According to the planning status of 2016, six New Shepard missiles should be built. How many more missiles will be built should be based on demand after the tests have been completed.

Two missiles have been in service since 2021 - Missile No. 3 for unmanned missions and Missile No. 4 for manned flights.

construction

The New Shepard consists of the rocket (called "propulsion module" by Blue Origin) and the space capsule at its tip. The entire system flies autonomously, so it is only controlled by the on-board computer.

Drive module

The New Shepard is powered by the BE-3 engine. It is a liquid rocket engine with about 490  kN thrust. Like the space shuttle , the BE-3 uses liquid hydrogen as fuel and liquid oxygen (LOX) as an oxidizer. It can be throttled - unusual for an LH2 / LOX engine - to an output of only 89 kN. This is a prerequisite for controlled landing.

In order to stabilize the rocket on reentry, the New Shepard has a number of fins . Before the engine brakes the rocket, eight air brakes are deployed , which halve the speed. The four landing legs on which the rocket then gently lands are also extended shortly before landing.

Crew Capsule

Crew capsule after landing

With 15 cubic meters, the capsule offers space for six passengers. Blue Origin advertises that the capsule has the "largest windows in space". Should an emergency arise during take-off, the rocketdyne- built solid-state rescue rocket in the capsule would be detonated. Unlike usual, this rocket is not located above, but below or in the capsule.

To reduce re-entry speed, three parachutes are ejected. Similar to the Soyuz spaceship , brake engines fire shortly before landing.

Formerly planned mission sequence

In 2017, a New Shepard mission was envisioned as follows:

In Van Horn, Texas, Blue Origins customers will begin flight training two days before take-off. Since this is fully automatic, the training is limited to basic behavior in weightlessness and emergency situations. The crew enters the capsule 30 minutes before take-off. 110 seconds after take-off, the engine is switched off at an altitude of 40 km and the capsule is separated from the drive module. Because of its very high momentum , the capsule only reaches its apex at a height of about 100 km . First, the drive module lands on a landing pad near the launch pad. Shortly afterwards, the capsule and its occupants land a little out of the way in the desert. The flight takes a total of 10 to 11 minutes, of which about four minutes are spent in weightlessness.

Manned flights

The first manned start of the New Shepard was initially announced for 2019 and finally took place on July 20, 2021. Four passengers were on board: company owner Jeff Bezos , his brother Mark, 82-year-old Wally Funk and 18-year-old Dutchman Oliver Daemen. The flight took a total of around 10 minutes and reached an altitude of 106 km.

The capsule for this flight is called "RSS First Step"; it was tested unmanned in January 2021. RSS stands for reusable space ship .

New Shepard passengers are said to be given preference when selling tickets for the much larger orbital rocket New Glenn .

Scientific payloads

At the 7th start of the New Shepard, scientific experiments were transported for the first time during the test flight. Scientific payloads were flown again during the 8th flight and on subsequent missions. Customers included NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). In the future, flights will also be offered where scientists can carry out their experiments in person during the flight.

Web links

Commons : New Shepard  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

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