BLUE ORIGIN

On Tuesday, October 13, 2020, Blue Origin launched mission NS-13 to space and back. On this flight, New Shepard flew 12 commercial payloads, including the Deorbit, Descent, and Landing Sensor Demonstration with NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate under a Tipping Point partnership. This was the first payload to fly mounted on the exterior of a New Shepard booster, opening the door to a wide range of future high-altitude sensing, sampling, and exposure payloads. Learn more about this mission and the payloads flown on New Shepard on BlueOrigin.com: https://bit.ly/3hVUUkt.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine joined the New Shepard NS-13 webcast to talk about a key experiment on board, the Deorbit, Descent, and Landing Sensor Demonstration with NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate under a Tipping Point partnership. Learn more about NS-13 here: https://bit.ly/3hVUUkt.

Blue Origin successfully completed the 13th New Shepard mission on October 13, 2020. New Shepard flew 12 commercial payloads to space on this mission, including the Deorbit, Descent, and Landing Sensor Demonstration with NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate under a Tipping Point partnership. This was the first payload to fly mounted on the exterior of a New Shepard booster rather than inside the capsule, opening the door to a wide range of future high-altitude sensing, sampling, and exposure payloads. Also on board were tens of thousands of postcards from students around the world from Blue Origin’s nonprofit, Club for the Future, some of which will include a special NASA Artemis stamp. With this successful mission, New Shepard has flown more than 100 payloads to space across 10 sequential flights. All mission crew supporting this launch exercised strict social distancing and safety measures to mitigate COVID-19 risks to personnel, customers, and surrounding communities. Learn more about this mission and the payloads flown on New Shepard on BlueOrigin.com: https://bit.ly/367AcM3.

The Blue Origin-led Human Landing System (HLS) National Team – comprised of Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper – delivered an engineering mockup of a crew lander vehicle that could take American astronauts to the Moon. The lander is set up in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF), NASA Johnson Space Center’s (JSC) iconic Building 9.  The full-scale engineering mockup showcases two elements of the National Team’s multi-element architecture – the Ascent Element (AE) and Descent Element (DE). Standing at more than 40 feet, it is the Blue Origin National Team’s update to Apollo’s Lunar Module (LM) and will be used to validate the National Team’s approaches for getting crew, equipment, supplies, and samples off and on the vehicle. The team will collaborate with NASA organizations including JSC’s Astronaut Office to perform engineering and crew operations tests with astronauts aiming to fly the final system within several years. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/32ohvAv

The National Team HLS design leverages significant prior work, flight heritage, and a modular solution. Modular solutions help to enable faster progress due to the independent development and testing of each element, which permits ongoing improvements and evolution without impacting the full system.  This also provides flexibility in the use of different launch vehicles and different concepts of operations.   The Descent Element is based on Blue Origin’s Blue Moon cargo lander and BE-7 LOX/hydrogen engine, both in development for more than three years. The Ascent Element incorporates avionics, software, life support hardware, crew interfaces, and mission operations from Lockheed Martin’s human-rated, deep-space Orion vehicle that will fly on the Artemis I and II missions soon. A consistent cockpit experience and training from Orion to the AE makes the end-to-end mission safer for Artemis. The Transfer Element, a propulsive stage that starts the lander on its descent trajectory from lunar orbit, is based on Northrop Grumman's Cygnus vehicle that provides logistics resupply to the International Space Station; and Draper provides descent guidance and avionics to the National Team. It’s time to go back to the Moon – to stay. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/3gcs1iP

We are proudly producing daily deliveries of 3D printed face shield components to help combat the COVID-19 crisis. Our additive machines are working 24/7, and the volunteers for this effort also support BE-4 engine development. We are grateful for their dedication.

Two BE-3U engines will power the upper stage of New Glenn. Fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen – these powerful engines are a variant of the BE-3PM flying today on New Shepard. Here’s a peek at how the test program is going in West Texas. https://www.blueorigin.com/engines/be-3

The largest structure of our New Glenn rocket is the reusable first stage tank. Tank production is well underway in the high bay of our factory in Cape Canaveral, FL.

Here’s an inside look at how a New Glenn 7 meter fairing is designed, and the capabilities it brings to commercial, civil and national security customers. https://www.blueorigin.com/new-glenn/

2020 is shaping up to be a busy year for the Blue team in Florida – starting with the completion of the first full scale New Glenn 7 meter fairing at our rocket factory in Cape Canaveral. https://www.blueorigin.com/new-glenn/

Today’s NS-12 mission was a complete success. We moved closer towards verifying New Shepard for human flight. This was the 6th flight for this booster (a record), and the 100th commercial payload customer was on board with thousands of Club for the Future postcards.

For your once in a lifetime journey, you will travel past the boundaries of Earth’s atmosphere into space. Featuring windows that comprise 1/3 of the capsule’s surface structure - the largest windows ever in space – you’ll have a view of the curve of the planet and the vast darkness if the cosmos. Every detail of the capsule has been precision engineered for your safety and comfort. With reclining seats specifically designed to absorb the impact of landing, and an escape motor that can safely propel the capsule from the booster rocket. At the apex of flight, you’ll experience weightlessness. Unbuckling from your seat, you are free to explore different perspectives from each window before your return to earth begins. This is the beginning of a revolution in space travel, and Blue Origin is going to take you there.

On the way to demonstrating the system is ready for human spaceflight, New Shepard has launched nine successful missions with commercial payloads on board from around the globe. New Shepard’s flight profile makes it an ideal platform for microgravity physics, gravitational biology, tech demos, art projects and educational programs. Earth, atmospheric and space science research are all possible on New Shepard.

We’re currently testing the newest member of the BE-3 family, BE-3U (upper stage), a variant of the BE-3PM propelling New Shepard. With a back-to-back turbine assembly and a larger nozzle, BE-3U is optimized to operate in the vacuum of space and generates 710 kN (160,000 lbf) thrust in vacuum. Two BE-3U engines power New Glenn’s restartable upper stage, enabling the full range of customer missions including direct injection to geostationary orbit. Building on years of operational experience and rigorous testing, BE-3U will be one of the best understood rocket engines when it launches into space.

The Club for the Future is a nonprofit founded by Blue Origin to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and help visualize the future of life in space. www.clubforfuture.org Instagram: @clubforfuture Twitter: @clubforfuture

Whether you are an astronaut flying with Blue Origin or sending a payload to space, your 11-minute flight on New Shepard will be the experience of a lifetime. Blue Origin has been demonstrating the safety, reliability and robustness of the New Shepard vehicle through its flight program and is moving towards verifying the system for human spaceflight. An important part of preparing for our astronauts is rehearsing procedures for training and launch day, like entering the capsule on the tower, which is shown here.

New Shepard had a wholly successful mission on December 11, 2019. This mission was another step towards verifying New Shepard for human spaceflight as we continue to mature the safety and reliability of the vehicle. This was the 6th flight for this particular New Shepard vehicle. Blue Origin has so far reused two boosters five times each consecutively, so today marks a record with this booster completing its 6th flight to space and back. This particular rocket has been an operational payload vehicle for several flights, meaning there are no more updates to the system. This was also the 9th commercial payload mission for New Shepard, and we are proud to be have flown our 100th customer on board. Also on the vehicle were thousands of postcards from students around the world for our nonprofit Club for the Future. The Club's mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and help visualize the future of life in space.

Highlights from Blue Origin’s founder, Jeff Bezos, speaking with Ambassador Caroline Kennedy on June 19th, 2019 at the JFK Library during the JFK Space Summit.

On May 9, 2019, our founder discussed his vision to go to space to benefit Earth. In addition, he also announced the Blue Moon lunar lander, which is capable of taking people and payloads to the lunar surface. Below you’ll find more information about these announcements. Blue Moon lunar lander: Blue Origin announced Blue Moon, its large lunar lander capable of delivering multiple metric tons of payload to the lunar surface based on configuration and mission. The cargo variant revealed today can carry 3.6 metric tons to the surface. We have also designed a variant of the lander that can stretch to be capable of carrying a 6.5-metric-ton, human-rated ascent stage. Blue also announced it can meet the current Administration's goal of putting Americans on the Moon by 2024 with the Blue Moon lunar lander. BE-7 engine: The Blue Moon lunar lander will be powered by the BE-7 engine, a new addition to Blue Origin’s family of engines. The BE-7’s 40 kN (10,000 lbf) thrust is designed for large lunar payload transport. The engine’s propellants are a highly-efficient combination of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The BE-7 will have its first hotfire this summer. The engine will be available for sale to other companies for use in in-space and lander applications. Club For the Future: A non-profit founded by Blue Origin dedicated to inspiring and engaging the next generation of dreamers and space entrepreneurs as we journey to preserve Earth and unlock the potential of living and working in space. The Club will bring together K-12 students, educators and leaders for campaigns and initiatives utilizing Blue Origin’s unique access to space. The Club’s first activity will be to send a postcard to space and back on a future New Shepard mission—the first ever space mail. Learn more on the website (www.clubforfuture.org). Follow @ClubforFuture on Twitter and Instagram.

Blue Moon is a flexible lander delivering a wide variety of small, medium and large payloads to the lunar surface. Its capability to provide precise and soft landings will enable a sustained human presence on the Moon. Learn more at www.blueorigin.com/blue-moon.