Blue Origin plans to resume launches of the reusable spacecraft for suborbital flights New Shepard next week after a 15-month break. The pause was due to an investigation by US regulators into the failed launch of the ship last September. The first mission will be unmanned.
“We are targeting the launch window that opens on December 18 for our next New Shepard payload mission. NS24 will deliver 33 research payloads into space, as well as 38,000 @clubforfuture postcards,” Blue Origin announced today on X.
In order to avoid a recurrence of an incident similar to the above-mentioned accident, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) required Blue Origin to make 21 improvements to prevent a recurrence of failures, including upgrades to engine and nozzle components to improve structural performance during operation, as well as organizational changes, as a condition for obtaining permission to resume flights.
“Blue Origin must take all corrective actions that affect public safety and obtain a license modification from the FAA that addresses all safety and other applicable regulatory requirements before the next launch of New Shepard,” the regulator added.
Apparently, Blue Origin has already completed the work on correcting the deficiencies in accordance with the FAA’s comments, as New Shepard is heading to the company’s launch pad in West Texas.
