New Shepard facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
New Shepard

Manufacturer	Blue Origin
Country of origin	United States of America
Size
Height	18m (60ft)
Diameter	3.7m (12.1ft)
Mass	75 T ~40t est.
Stages	1
Launch history
Status	Active
Launch sites	Launch Site One
Total launches	23
Successes	22
Failures	1
Landings	21
First flight	29 April 2015
Single stage
Engines	1 BE-3
Thrust	110,000 lbf (490 kN)
Burn time	141 seconds
Fuel	LH2 / LOX

New Shepard Rocket, booster and capsule

The New Shepard is a special kind of reusable rocket built by a company called Blue Origin. It's designed to take people and things on short trips to the edge of space. The rocket is named after Alan Shepard, who was the first American to travel into space.

This rocket can launch straight up and then land straight down again, just like it took off. This is called vertical takeoff and landing. New Shepard can carry up to six people or cargo into space. They go just high enough to experience a few minutes of weightlessness, where they can float around, before coming back to Earth.

The New Shepard has two main parts: a booster rocket and a crew capsule. The capsule is where the passengers sit. The booster rocket uses a powerful BE-3PM engine to push the capsule above the Kármán line. This line is like an invisible boundary that many people consider the start of space.

After the trip, the capsule returns to Earth using three parachutes and a small rocket motor for a soft landing. The booster rocket lands vertically back on the same launchpad it started from. Blue Origin has launched and landed the New Shepard 22 times successfully, with one partial success and one failure. The rocket is about 15 meters (49 feet) tall and 3.7 meters (12 feet) wide.

Journey to Space: How New Shepard Began

Timeline of Space­Ship­One, Space­Ship­Two, CSXT and New Shepard sub-orbital flights. Where booster and capsule achieved different altitudes, the higher is plotted. In the SVG file, hover over a point to show details.

The journey to create New Shepard started a long time ago. In 2006, Blue Origin built a smaller test rocket called Goddard. This rocket made its first flight on November 13, 2006, and it was a success! Goddard was built in Kent, Washington, in the United States.

Blue Origin also worked on developing the BE-1 rocket engine, which was used in the Goddard test vehicle. To carry people, they also needed a space capsule. In 2012, they tested a full-size crew capsule. During this test, the capsule fired its emergency escape motor and launched away from a fake rocket. It went up about 700 meters (2,300 feet) and then landed safely with parachutes.

In 2015, Blue Origin announced that their main engine, the BE-3PM, was ready. They planned to start flying the New Shepard rocket later that year. The first full-scale New Shepard rocket was built, but it crashed during its first test flight in April 2015. However, the capsule landed safely.

By 2016, Blue Origin had built three New Shepard vehicles. The team even won the Collier Trophy, a big award, for showing that rocket boosters could be reused.

First Crewed Flights and Milestones

On July 20, 2021, New Shepard made history with its first flight carrying people into space. This flight lasted about 10 minutes and crossed the Kármán line. The passengers included Jeff Bezos (who founded Blue Origin), his brother Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen.

New Shepard then flew six more times with crews between July 2021 and August 2022. These flights carried famous people like Wally Funk (who became the oldest person to fly to space at 82) and actor William Shatner. Many paying customers also flew. By June 2022, ticket sales for New Shepard had earned $50 million.

In September 2022, an uncrewed mission (meaning no people were on board) had a problem. The main engine failed, but the emergency escape system worked perfectly. The capsule landed safely, but the booster rocket was lost. After an investigation, Blue Origin found that a part of the engine nozzle failed. They plan to resume flights soon.

Different Versions of New Shepard Rockets

Blue Origin has built several versions of the New Shepard rocket, each with improvements.

New Shepard 1: The First Full-Scale Rocket

The New Shepard Crew Capsule after a successful sub-orbital space flight.

The very first full-size New Shepard rocket was called NS1. It flew on April 29, 2015, reaching an altitude of about 93.5 kilometers (58 miles). The test flight was mostly a success because the capsule, named RSS Jules Verne, landed safely with parachutes. However, the booster rocket crashed during its landing attempt due to a problem with its control system.

New Shepard 2: The Reusable Pioneer

New Shepard 2 (NS2) was the second rocket. It was a true pioneer because it made five successful flights and landings in 2015 and 2016. This rocket showed that a booster could be reused multiple times, which is a big step for space travel. After its fifth flight in October 2016, NS2 was retired.

New Shepard 3: For Cargo and Testing

New Shepard 3 (NS3), also known as "Tail 3," flies with a capsule called RSS H. G. Wells. This version was made to be even more reusable and have better heat protection. It also has new panels that make it easier to fix and maintain. NS3 started its test flights in 2017.

This rocket is used to carry cargo and conduct experiments. It will not carry human passengers. Its first flight on December 12, 2017, was special because it was the first time New Shepard flew under a full launch license from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This meant Blue Origin could now get paid to carry things into space. On that flight, it carried 12 experiments and a test dummy named "Mannequin Skywalker."

NS3 has also been used to test new technologies for NASA, like SPLICE, which helps with lunar (Moon) landings. Sadly, the New Shepard 3 booster was destroyed during the NS-23 mission on September 12, 2022. Its engine failed, but the capsule and its experiments landed safely.

New Shepard 4: Carrying Humans to Space

New Shepard 4 (NS4), or "Tail 4," is the rocket that carries human passengers. Its capsule is called RSS First Step. This rocket was built in 2018.

Its first flight without people was on January 14, 2021. Then, on July 20, 2021, NS4 made history by carrying its first human passengers, including Jeff Bezos. Since then, NS4 has completed several more crewed flights, taking many people to the edge of space. On December 11, 2021, the Blue Origin NS-19 flight carried six passengers, which is the full number the capsule is designed for.

Who Has Flown on New Shepard?

Blue Origin started flying passengers on July 20, 2021, with the 16th flight of New Shepard (NS-16).

• The first passengers on NS-16 were Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen. At 82, Wally Funk was the oldest person to go to space at that time, and Oliver Daemen, at 18, was the youngest.
• The second crewed flight on October 13, 2021, included actor William Shatner, famous for playing Captain Kirk in Star Trek!
• On December 11, 2021, the third crewed flight, Blue Origin NS-19, carried NFL legend Michael Strahan and Laura Shepard Churchley, who is Alan Shepard's daughter.
• The fourth crewed flight on March 31, 2022, was the first with no celebrity passengers.
• The fifth crewed flight on June 4, 2022, included educational YouTuber Katya Echazarreta.
• The sixth crewed flight on August 4, 2022, had Coby Cotton, one of the founders of the popular YouTube channel Dude Perfect. This flight also carried the first space travelers from Egypt and Portugal.

By June 2022, Blue Origin had made over $100 million from its space tourism program with New Shepard.

New Shepard Flight Records

Here's a list of the New Shepard flights:

How New Shepard is Built

New Shepard Crew Capsule RSS H. G. Wells after landing on 12 December 2017

The New Shepard is designed to be fully reusable. It takes off and lands vertically. It has two main parts: a pressurized crew capsule and a propulsion module (the booster). The entire flight is controlled by computers on board; there's no human pilot or control from the ground.

The Crew Capsule: Your Ride to Space

The New Shepard crew capsule is where up to six people can sit. It has a special launch escape system that can quickly separate the capsule from the booster rocket if there's an emergency during launch. This system uses a powerful rocket motor.

After separating from the booster, the capsule deploys three parachutes. It then uses a small solid rocket motor just before landing to slow down even more, ensuring a soft landing for the passengers, at about 24 km/h (15 mph). The inside of the capsule is about 15 cubic meters (530 cubic feet) in size.

How a New Shepard Flight Works

New Shepard booster landing at Launch Site One (LS1)

New Shepard rockets launch from a place called Launch Site One (LS1), which is about 30 miles north of Van Horn, Texas.

The rocket flies for about 110 seconds, reaching an altitude of about 40 kilometers (25 miles). After that, the capsule continues to climb higher due to its speed, going above the Kármán Line (the edge of space).

Once it reaches its highest point, the vehicle starts to fall back down. The booster rocket restarts its engines a few seconds before landing vertically, very close to where it launched. The total flight time for the rocket is usually over 7 minutes.

For flights with people, the crew capsule separates from the booster near the highest point. The booster lands on its own, while the crew capsule floats down under three parachutes. The entire trip for passengers lasts about 10 minutes. If there's any problem with the rocket, the crew capsule can use its emergency boosters to quickly fly away and then land safely with parachutes.

New Shepard's Role in Space Research

Alan Shepard, the first American in space and New Shepard's namesake, in the Freedom 7 capsule before his May 5, 1961, launch

New Shepard is not just for space tourism; it's also a great tool for science! Blue Origin offers flights for experiments that need to go above 100 kilometers (62 miles). These experiments can be inside the capsule or attached to the outside of the rocket.

Scientists can get several minutes of microgravity (where things float) or partial gravity for their research. The gentle return of the payloads makes New Shepard perfect for delicate experiments.

Since 2011, Blue Origin has offered New Shepard for NASA's Flight Opportunities Program. This program helps test new space technologies. New Shepard can carry research payloads weighing about 11.3 kilograms (25 pounds) on its 10-minute flights.

In 2018, New Shepard carried a device called the Schmitt Space Communicator SC-1x. This device created the first commercial Wi-Fi hotspot in space and even sent the first commercial Twitter message from space! NASA helped fund this project.

On September 12, 2022, 18 NASA experiments were on board NS-23 when the booster engine failed. Even though the booster was lost, the emergency system worked, and the capsule with all the experiments landed safely.

Images for kids

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  New Shepard rocket

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  New Shepard Rocket, booster and capsule

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  The New Shepard Crew Capsule after a successful sub-orbital space flight.

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  New Shepard booster landing at Launch Site One (LS1)

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  Alan Shepard, the first American in space and New Shepard's namesake, in the Freedom 7 capsule before his May 5, 1961, launch

See also

In Spanish: New Shepard para niños