After years of development, Jeff Bezos’ private space company Blue Origin wants to transport its first passengers to the edge of space within a few months.
Blue Origin completed the fourteenth test flight of its New Shepard rocket amplifier and capsule on Thursday. The successful test flight, called NS-14, features the debut of a new booster and an upgraded capsule.
In addition to the upgrades, CNBC has learned that NS-14 was also one of the last remaining steps before Blue Origin would fly its first crew into space.
The flight was the first of two test flights with ‘stable configuration’, people familiar with Blue Origin’s plans told CNBC. Stable configuration means that the company intends not to make major changes between this flight and the next.
In addition, people said that Blue Origin intends to start the second test flight within six weeks, or end of February, and the first flight with six crew members thereafter, or in early April.
According to the people, Blue Origin’s next flight, NS-15, will also include a test of loading and unloading the crew.
The company turned down CNBC’s request for comment on its plans for New Shepard.
An ambitious timeline
One of the people is warned that the New Shepard schedule is ambitious, with the goal of flying every six weeks of the company’s leading leadership. Blue Origin’s previous NS-13 mission flew in October, after being delayed from September due to a power outage problem – and it also came after a nine-month break between flights.
The person also noted that one of the outstanding tasks for the NS-15 launch of New Shepard is the completion of software qualification, which according to them is not expected to be completed until the end of March or even in April.
New Shepard is designed to transport people along the edge of space and reach an altitude of more than 100 kilometers. The capsule spends a few minutes in gravity before returning to Earth, with massive windows to let the passengers see. Both the rockets and the capsules are reusable, with the amplifiers returning vertically and the capsules landing on control of a set of parachutes.
The NS-14 mission included several upgrades to the crew capsule, including an audio push-and-talk system for astronauts to talk to mission controls, a new crew-seat alarm panel, lined wall coverings and sound-absorbing devices to reduce noise. in the capsule and the addition of environmental systems such as air conditions and humidity control.
Blue Origin was founded by Bezos in 2000 and now has more than 3,500 employees with its headquarters in Kent, Washington. To date, Blue Origin New Shepard has successfully launched 14 times and landed the rocket’s booster 13 consecutive times. The company has built a total of four new Shepard boosters, the fourth of which was launched for the first time Thursday.
Its third booster has flown seven times in a row and will be used to fly micro-gravity payloads for NASA and other customers. New Shepard is a fully autonomous system, with no pilots on board.
Bezos personally finances Blue Origin’s development by selling part of its stake in Amazon. While he previously said he sells about $ 1 billion a year to Amazon shares to finance the space company, Bezos recently increased its sales of Amazon shares and earned more than $ 10 billion in 2020.