Blue Origin New Shepard takes a new 'leap' successfully
Source: HW Upgrade added 15th Jan 2021
Blue Origin New Shepard is the system launch which includes first stage and manned capsule of Jeff Bezos’ company. Yesterday afternoon, Italian time, a new test was conducted which ended with complete success.
by Mattia Speroni published 15 January 2021 , at 09: in the Science and Technology channel
Blue Origin
Jeff Bezos’ company, Blue Origin , successfully completed the NS mission – 14 of its launcher New Shepard bringing a mannequin called Mannequin Skywalker to suborbital altitude ), which simulated the presence on board of a crew. A relatively “simple” mission profile but which, as always, has many unknowns, from departure to landing. Everything went smoothly thus taking the company one step further in the project.
Blue Origin New Shepard NS – 09: everything went as planned
The company broadcast its attempt live allowing so users from all over the world to see what was happening on the launch pad and in the finish areas. As specified by Ariane Cornell (by Blue Origin), this is a step towards flying with real astronauts and the 2021 promises to be a decisive year in this sense.
We remind you that New Shepard has a structure that provides a first stage with a capsule in the upper area . The latter can be separated and landed autonomously as well as the first stage which can return to the ground and be reused. This should help reduce costs, as we have already learned with SpaceX.
The capsule, called RSS First Step (Reusable Space Ship), landed approximately 10 minutes after take-off (braked by three parachutes). The maximum altitude reached by the Blue Origin capsule was approximately 106 km crossing the Karman line and therefore officially arriving in Space, even if we are at much lower altitudes than those of the ISS, which orbits at about 400 km.
Both first stage and capsule were new and had never flown in precedence. This is partly because the capsule had a new internal structure to be more comfortable where six seats fit. For example there are new seats with integrated sound system and new screens to show astronauts what is going on.
There have also been improvements regarding the regulation of the ambient temperature and a better soundproofing. This should allow, once there are human beings on board, to have a pleasant experience.
Among the curiosities it is worth mentioning that Mannequin Skywalker had part of the in the pockets of the suit thousand postcards sent by students from all over the world. Now all that remains is to wait for the next tests and the possibility of sending a human being into space. Of course, we are still a long way from what SpaceX of is now able to do Elon Musk , but the goals of Jeff Bezos are however very important and also include the Moon. According to rumors, the next unmanned mission will be within six weeks while the first manned mission could be scheduled six weeks later.
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