Author Topic: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight  (Read 181942 times)

Offline QuantumG

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This just happened:

https://www.blueorigin.com/news/blog/first-developmental-test-flight-of-new-shepard

There's a video at https://www.blueorigin.com/

They lost the propulsion module. No footage of that :)

--

(Chris here - adding the article I've written up for this: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/04/blue-origins-new-shepard-test-flight/ )
« Last Edit: 04/30/2015 02:00 pm by Chris Bergin »
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Offline QuantumG

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #2 on: 04/30/2015 06:17 am »
And three other new videos.





Human spaceflight is basically just LARPing now.

Offline AS-503

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #3 on: 04/30/2015 06:23 am »
Wow! For such an invisible company, it's great to actually see some hardware flying!
The blog mentions the peak altitude reached as 307,000 ft, or 58.14 miles high.
This is still shy of the Karman Line (100 KM or 62 miles) which is the internationally recognized line for "space".
Maybe the next flight will actually reach "space".

Hats off to all of the great engineering that made this possible!

Offline Patchouli

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #4 on: 04/30/2015 06:26 am »
According to their site this vehicle was using the BE-3 engine.
« Last Edit: 04/30/2015 06:29 am by Patchouli »

Offline ChrisWilson68

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #5 on: 04/30/2015 06:31 am »
Nice!

Are those bumps on the side of the propulsion module legs?  I would think it must have fold-out legs similar to the Falcon 9 first stage's legs.

I think Blue Origin is really the most likely to eventually be the competitor to SpaceX.  When rapid reuse has been achieved, Arianespace and ULA will have to scramble to try to start reusable programs from scratch.  Blue Origin is already on the right track.

Offline ChrisWilson68

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #6 on: 04/30/2015 06:33 am »
The landing of the crew capsule looked kind of rough, though.  With a company built from the start around the idea of vertical propulsive landing, parachutes are a disappointment.

Offline QuantumG

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #7 on: 04/30/2015 06:34 am »
Are those bumps on the side of the propulsion module legs?  I would think it must have fold-out legs similar to the Falcon 9 first stage's legs.

See the animation videos for the bizarre legs.
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Offline TrevorMonty

Congratulations Blue Origin.

Nice to see an sub orbital aerospace company finally delivering the goods.


Offline Stellvia

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #9 on: 04/30/2015 06:53 am »
They showed a real flight test of full-scale operational hardware first, and the fancy CGI mission animation second. That makes a refreshing change....
Rocketeers: A British view of commercial spaceflight:
http://www.rocketeers.co.uk/

Offline QuantumG

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #10 on: 04/30/2015 06:57 am »
Nice to see an sub orbital aerospace company finally delivering the goods.

Dunno what you mean, Virgin Galactic has conducted 54 test flights.
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Online FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #11 on: 04/30/2015 07:17 am »
Great to see substantial progress after all this time. Congratulations Blue Origin on a good first flight.

Equally good that it sounds like the next test will be soon, rather than in another 4 or 5 years time!

If booster recovery issue is not too difficult to fix, Blue Origin could be operationall in a similar timescale to Virgin and XCOR. Will 2016 finally be the year of commercial sub-orbital space tourism?

Offline ChrisWilson68

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #12 on: 04/30/2015 07:18 am »
Are those bumps on the side of the propulsion module legs?  I would think it must have fold-out legs similar to the Falcon 9 first stage's legs.

See the animation videos for the bizarre legs.

Ah, thanks.  Those legs remind me of the legs of certain insects.

Offline ChrisWilson68

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #13 on: 04/30/2015 07:22 am »
Great to see substantial progress after all this time. Congratulations Blue Origin on a good first flight.

Equally good that it sounds like the next test will be soon, rather than in another 4 or 5 years time!

If booster recovery issue is not too difficult to fix, Blue Origin could be operationall in a similar timescale to Virgin and XCOR. Will 2016 finally be the year of commercial sub-orbital space tourism?

Based on what we just saw from Blue Origin, my money would be on Blue Origin taking paying passengers before either Virgin Galactic or XCOR.  Virgin Galactic has to redesign their vehicle and XCOR isn't close to even starting flight tests yet.  Blue Origin already flew their vehicle pretty close to space, with no sign they need any significant changes to become operational.

Offline Nibb31

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #14 on: 04/30/2015 07:22 am »
Once the powered landing is proven  and trusted, why even bother with a separation event for suborbital flights ? They could evolve this into an all-in-one vehicle and land the first stage with the capsule on top.

Does the capsule have a LES ?
« Last Edit: 04/30/2015 07:26 am by Nibb31 »

Offline QuantumG

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #15 on: 04/30/2015 07:27 am »
Based on what we just saw from Blue Origin, my money would be on Blue Origin taking paying passengers before either Virgin Galactic or XCOR.  Virgin Galactic has to redesign their vehicle and XCOR isn't close to even starting flight tests yet.  Blue Origin already flew their vehicle pretty close to space, with no sign they need any significant changes to become operational.

Hey, so after a decade of nothing you're convinced after one flight.. where the rocket exploded. Yep, totally sounds ready to me. They could be flying people next week!
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Offline ChrisWilson68

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #16 on: 04/30/2015 07:28 am »
Once the powered landing is proven  and trusted, why even bother with a separation event for suborbital flights ? They could evolve this into an all-in-one vehicle and land the first stage with the capsule on top.

I'd think that's their long term aspiration.

They probably still want to be able to do a separation in case of abort (such as the engine shutting down unexpectedly), but unless something goes wrong, I would think they'd want to keep the two together.

Offline jacqmans

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #17 on: 04/30/2015 07:35 am »
Jacques :-)

Offline ChrisWilson68

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Re: Blue Origin - New Shepard first developmental test flight
« Reply #18 on: 04/30/2015 07:36 am »
Based on what we just saw from Blue Origin, my money would be on Blue Origin taking paying passengers before either Virgin Galactic or XCOR.  Virgin Galactic has to redesign their vehicle and XCOR isn't close to even starting flight tests yet.  Blue Origin already flew their vehicle pretty close to space, with no sign they need any significant changes to become operational.

Hey, so after a decade of nothing you're convinced after one flight.. where the rocket exploded. Yep, totally sounds ready to me. They could be flying people next week!

Not convinced it's a sure thing, but yes, convinced they're a better bet than VG or XCOR.  Clearly they need to fix a bug in their propulsion module, but a failure of a hydraulic system sounds like something that is likely easy to fix.

That ULA decided to go with their engine also influenced me.  It's a sign someone who knows the business thinks they know what they're doing.

Offline Beittil

Really cool to see them flying again finally, still wonder why they didn't nudge that last 7km past the Karman line though :D

They lost the propulsion module. No footage of that :)
Source on that?

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