Blue Origin - New Shepard - NS-28 - Launch Site One, Texas - November 22, 2024

About New Shepard by Blue Origin
Function: Launching tourists and cargo on a suborbital trajectory
Manufacturer: Blue Origin
Country of origin: United States of America

Height: 19.2m (63ft)
Diameter: 3.8 m (12.5 ft)
Mass: 75,000 kg (165,000 lb)
Stages: 1
Launch sites: Launch Site One, West Texas

Total launches: 27
Success(es): 26
Failure(s): 1
Landings: 25
First flight: 29 April 2015; 9 years ago
Last flight: 23 October 2024

Single stage
Powered by 1 × BE-3
Maximum thrust: 490 kN (110,000 lbf)
Burn time: 141 seconds
Propellant: LH2 / LOX

Blue Origin's ninth human flight, NS-28, will lift off from Launch Site One in West Texas on Friday, November 22. The launch window opens at 9:30 AM CST / 1530 UTC / 16:30 CET.

Blue Origin revealed the six people flying on its NS-28 mission. The crew includes Emily Calandrelli, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Austin Litteral, and James (J.D.) Russell, and Henry (Hank) Wolfond. Sharon and Marc Hagle are both flying on New Shepard for the second time.

This mission will be the ninth human flight for the New Shepard program and the 28th in its history. To date, the program has flown 43 humans above the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.

About the Spacecraft:
All rockets take off; not all rockets land. Named after astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, New Shepard is Blue Origin’s fully reusable, suborbital rocket system built for human flight from the beginning. During the 11-minute journey, astronauts soar past the Kármán line (100 km/62 miles), the internationally recognized boundary of space, experiencing several minutes of weightlessness and witnessing life-changing views of Earth. The vehicle is fully autonomous—there are no pilots.

Crew Capsule
Pressurized crew capsule with room for six people, environmentally controlled for comfort, and among the largest windows to have flown in space.

Ring & Wedge Fins
Aerodynamically designed to stabilize the booster and reduce fuel use on its flight back to Earth.

Drag Brakes
Deploy from the ring fin to reduce the booster's speed by half on its descent from space.

BE-3PM Engine
Propels the rocket to space and restarts to uniquely slow the booster down to just 6 mph (9.7 km/h) for a controlled pinpoint landing on the pad.

Aft Fins
Stabilize the vehicle during ascent, steer it back to the landing pad on descent, and guide the rocket through airspeeds over Mach 3.

Landing Gear
Deploys for touchdown.