Blue Origin to Launch First Crewed Space Tourism as Early as April

14th Test Flight Completed on the 14th

Blue Origin's New Shepard test flight preparation scene
[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Blue Origin, the private space company founded by Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, is accelerating efforts to achieve its first space tourism flight as early as April after years of experimentation.

According to CNBC and other media on the 14th (local time), Blue Origin announced that it successfully completed the 14th test flight of the New Shepard rocket on that day. The New Shepard rocket has conducted 13 test flights from its first successful round-trip test flight in April 2015 until October last year. This flight, called NS-14, used a new propulsion system and an upgraded capsule for the first time.

New Shepard is a reusable rocket designed for private space tourism. Blue Origin, established in 2000, has been developing this rocket since 2006. The rocket ascends to an altitude of 100 km, separates the passenger capsule, and during the capsule's return to Earth, passengers experience several minutes of free fall and enjoy space tourism by looking outside through large windows. Both the rocket and the capsule are designed to be reusable.

This flight is one of the final stages before Blue Origin sends its first crew to space. Blue Origin plans to conduct two test flights to confirm a 'stable configuration' before sending passengers to space, and this was the first of those test flights. It is reported that Blue Origin plans to conduct a second test flight to confirm stable flight status within six weeks at the earliest.

Blue Origin is also preparing the next test flight, NS-15, simultaneously. This test flight will include both crewed and uncrewed flights and will evaluate the software capabilities, a key step for space tourism.

CEO Bezos is personally raising funds by selling some of his Amazon shares to enable these developments at Blue Origin.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.