Blue Origin Is Blasting Off To Space After A Yearlong Hiatus And You Can Watch Live
Mission NS-24 was initially scheduled to launch yesterday, but Blue Origin posted on X/Twitter that because of a ground system issue, the team had delayed the launch. It took the team less than 24 hours to troubleshoot the issue and set a new launch day and time of December 19, 2023, at approximately 10:37am CST. The launch will represent the 24th mission, and 13th payload mission for New Shepard.
The space company reported that NS-24’s manifest includes 33 payloads and 38,000 Club for the Future postcards from students around the world. The upcoming launch will mark a milestone in New Shepard’s history, having flown over 150 payloads to space. Blue Origin says that half of the payloads on the upcoming mission were developed and flown with support from NASA. The rest of the payload comprises projects from K-12 schools, universities, and STEM-focused organizations.
New Shepard offers flights for payloads inside the cabin of the spacecraft, and provides direct exposure to the space environment. During the flight, the payloads experience minutes of high-quality microgravity or partial-G, access to the Karman line (the internationally recognized boundary of space), and return of the payloads.
The last launch of New Shepard on September 12, 2022, was not trouble free. A mishap resulted in the loss of the NS Propulsion Tail 3. The Crew Capsule escape system worked as designed, allowing the capsule to make its safe descent back to Earth at Launch Site One with no damage. Blue Origin reported that the direct cause of the mishap was a thermo-structural failure of the engine nozzle. Because of the nozzle failure investigation, Blue Origin formed a Mishap Investigation Team, led by members of Blue Origin’s Safety and Mission Assurance organization.
The live launch of NS-24 can be viewed by watching the YouTube feed above
