New Shepard #NS27 is an uncrewed verification flight debuting our second human-rated vehicle to meet growing customer demand. The launch window opens on Monday, October 7, at 8:00 AM CDT / 13:00 UTC:
NEWS | OCT 4, 2024Blue Origin Debuts Second Human-Rated New Shepard Rocket To Meet DemandBlue Origin’s next New Shepard flight, NS-27, will debut our second human-rated vehicle, enabling expanded flight capacity to better meet growing customer demand. The launch window for the uncrewed verification flight opens on Monday, October 7, at 8:00 AM CDT / 1300 UTC. The webcast will begin 15 minutes before liftoff on BlueOrigin.com. The new crew capsule is named RSS Kármán line. The vehicle features technology upgrades to improve the vehicle’s performance and reusability, an updated livery, and accommodations for payloads on the booster. New Shepard remains one of the most sustainable rockets ever to fly to space. Nearly 99% of New Shepard’s dry mass is reused, including the booster, capsule, engine, landing gear, and parachutes. NS-27 will fly 12 payloads—five on the booster and seven inside the crew capsule. Payloads include new navigation systems developed for New Shepard and New Glenn; two different LIDAR sensors for the Lunar Permanence program; ultra-wideband proximity operations sensors flying as part of a NASA TechFlights grant with Blue Origin’s Space Systems Development group; and a commercial payload that is a reproduction of black monoliths from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The monoliths are flying on behalf of Spacemanic for a special edition printed by Croatian publisher Amaranthine Books. The mission will also carry tens of thousands of student-designed postcards on behalf of Club for the Future, Blue Origin’s STEAM-focused nonprofit whose mission is to inspire and mobilize future generations to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. The organization has engaged more than 43 million students globally since its founding in 2019. Students can submit digital postcards here. Follow Blue Origin on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, and YouTube, and sign up on BlueOrigin.com to stay current on all mission details.
We are looking forward to this mission—and expanding our flight cadence in the coming months.
#NS27 is targeting liftoff tomorrow. The launch window for this uncrewed verification flight opens at 8:00 AM CDT / 13:00 UTC. Webcast begins at 7:45 AM CDT on BlueOrigin.com. 🚀
New Shepard is on the pad. The launch team is working through the countdown procedures for our new vehicle and we’re adjusting our launch window to open at 11:10 AM CDT / 16:10 UTC. The webcast will begin 15 minutes prior to liftoff. #NS27
#NewShepard is going through final checks in advance of today’s uncrewed verification flight. We’re running a bit ahead of schedule. The #NS27 launch window will open at 11:00 AM CDT / 16:00 UTC. Webcast begins 15 minutes prior to liftoff on blueorigin.com/live