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New Shepard
PM-2 [Blue Origin] |
New Shepard [Blue Origin] |
In 2011, Blue Origin conducted flight tests of the PM-2 prototype of the first stage of the suborbital New Shepard vehicle. In place of the space capsule, the PM-2 carried only a haf-spherical aerodnyamic cap.
The first flight was a short hop with successful soft landing on a concrete pad. For this flight only, three of the five BE-2 engines were used. The second flight, powered by all five engines, went out of control at a height of 13.7 km at a speed of Mach 1.2. The vehicle was destroyed.
The New Shepard vehicle for suborbital space tourism flights consists of the Propulsion Module first stage with a single BE-3 engine and a crewed capsule. The stage is recoverable and conducts powered vertical landing at the end of the mission, while the capsule lands by three parachutes, assisted by retro-rockets at the moment of landing.
On the first flight of New Shepard to a height of about 90 km, the capsule was successfully deployed and recovered via a parachute system, while the Propulsion module was not recovered due to a hydraulics problem.
On the second flight, the booster was successfully recovered. Both capsule and booster were re-flown in January 2016 and again successfully recovered. Three more flights and recoveries were conducted. In October 2016, the booster and capsule were used for an in-flight abort test at max-Q. Again, the capsule and the booster were recovered. Both were retired after this test.
| Version | Stage 1 |
|---|---|
| PM-2 | PM-2 / 5 × BE-2 |
| New Shepard (1) | Propulsion Module / BE-3PM |
| New Shepard (2) | Propulsion Module / BE-3PM |
No: Type: Flight Date LS Payload
1 1 PM-2 F1 21.05.2011 * CR R&D 2 2 PM-2 F2 24.08.2011 *F CR R&D 3 1 New Shepard (1) NS-1 #1-F1 29.04.2015 *r CR New Shepard CC1 M1 (RSS Jules Verne F2) 4 2 New Shepard (1) NS-2 #2-F1 23.11.2015 * CR New Shepard CC1 M2 (RSS Jules Verne F3) 5 3 New Shepard (1) NS-3 #2-F2 22.01.2016 * CR New Shepard CC1 M3 (RSS Jules Verne F4) 6 4 New Shepard (1) NS-4 #2-F3 02.04.2016 * CR New Shepard CC1 M4 (RSS Jules Verne F5) 7 5 New Shepard (1) NS-5 #2-F4 19.06.2016 * CR New Shepard CC1 M5 (RSS Jules Verne F6) 8 6 New Shepard (1) NS-6 #2-F5 05.10.2016 *A CR New Shepard CC1 M6 (RSS Jules Verne F7) (abort test) 9 7 New Shepard (1) NS-7 #3-F1 12.12.2017 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-1 M1 (RSS H. G. Wells F1) 10 8 New Shepard (1) NS-8 #3-F2 29.04.2018 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-1 M2 (RSS H. G. Wells F2) 11 9 New Shepard (1) NS-9 #3-F3 18.07.2018 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-1 M3 (RSS H. G. Wells F3) (high altitude abort test) 12 10 New Shepard (1) NS-10 #3-F4 23.01.2019 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-1 M4 (RSS H. G. Wells F4) 13 11 New Shepard (1) NS-11 #3-F5 02.05.2019 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-1 M5 (RSS H. G. Wells F5) 14 12 New Shepard (1) NS-12 #3-F6 11.12.2019 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-1 M6 (RSS H. G. Wells F6) 15 13 New Shepard (1) NS-13 #3-F7 13.10.2020 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-1 M7 (RSS H. G. Wells F7) 16 1 New Shepard (2) NS-14 #4-F1 14.01.2021 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-2 F1 (RSS First Step F1) 17 2 New Shepard (2) NS-15 #4-F2 14.04.2021 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-2 F2 (RSS First Step F2) 18 3 New Shepard (2) NS-15 #4-F3 20.07.2021 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-2 F3 (RSS First Step F3) 19 14 New Shepard (1) NS-17 #3-F8 26.08.2021 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-1 M8 (RSS H. G. Wells F8) 20 4 New Shepard (2) NS-18 #4-F4 13.10.2021 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-2 F4 (RSS First Step F4) 21 5 New Shepard (2) NS-19 #4-F5 05.12.2021 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-2 F5 (RSS First Step F5) 22 6 New Shepard (2) NS-20 #4-F6 21.03.2022 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-2 F6 (RSS First Step F6) 23 7 New Shepard (2) NS-21 #4-F7 04.06.2022 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-2 F7 (RSS First Step F7) 24 8 New Shepard (2) NS-22 #4-F8 04.08.2022 * CR New Shepard CC2.0-2 F8 (RSS First Step F8) 25 15 New Shepard (1) NS-23 #3-F9 12.09.2022 *F CR New Shepard CC2.0-1 M9 (RSS H. G. Wells F9) Planned: Failures: 8 (NS-6): intentional abort to test the escape system. Booster and capsule survived 25 (NS-23): apparently engine failure at T+ 1m 4sec. Capsule saved by launch escape system Launch sites: CR = Blue Origin West Texas Launch Site, Corn Ranch, Van Horn, Culberson County, Texas, USA* Suborbital F Failure r Recovery Failure A Abort
