Blue Origin to livestream its first launch in over a year tomorrow -Gudstory

Space tourism company Blue Origin has turned its attention to the New Shepard launch window that begins tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. ET, its first attempt since a rocket booster failed during a September 2022 launch. The company says its New Shepard rocket will launch from its Launch Site One in west Texas. Blue Origin will livestream the launch on its website 20 minutes before the countdown.

This will be the 24th launch of the reusable New Shepard rocket and will carry 33 science payloads. Most of its launches have been removed, but as Engadget As noted, six of them had human beings aboard, including William Shatner. Last year, Blue Origin’s uncrewed NS-23 launch failed, prompting an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The FAA said in its September report that the “major cause” of the failure was an engine nozzle that malfunctioned due to “higher than expected engine operating temperatures”, but that debris from the accident was completely contained within a “designated hazard area”. Was. The agency gave the company 21 corrective actions to prevent the same failure from occurring again, including “redesign of engine and nozzle components” and organizational changes.

The rocket will also carry 38,000 postcards sent by students participating in Blue Origin’s Club for the Future program, which promotes STEM education. The Club for the Future accepts physical postcards for New Shepard missions, but the club also sends out hard drives full of digital submissions.