Blue Origin - New Shepard - NS-30 - Launch Site One, Texas - February 25, 2025

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: 29
Success(es): 27
Failure(s): 1
Landings: 26
First flight: 29 April 2015; 9 years ago

Blue Origin announced today its 10th human flight, NS-30, will lift off from Launch Site One in West Texas on Tuesday, February 25. The New Shepard launch window opens at 9:30 AM CST / 15:30 UTC.

Six people flying on its NS-30 mission. The crew includes Lane Bess, Jesús Calleja, Elaine Chia Hyde, Dr. Richard Scott, Tushar Shah, and an undisclosed sixth crew member. Lane is flying on New Shepard for the second time, the fourth astronaut to do so.

This mission is the 10th human flight for the New Shepard program and the 30th in its history. To date, the program has flown 47 humans above the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.

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

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 the descent, and guide the rocket through airspeeds over Mach 3.

Landing Gear
Deploys for the touchdown.