Blue Origin retires New Shepard capsule after payload flight

PARIS — Blue Origin is retiring a New Shepard capsule that flew a dozen uncrewed missions over practically eight years.

The capsule, RSS H.G. Wells, launched atop its booster at 9 a.m. Eastern Sept. 19 from the corporate’s Launch Site One in West Texas. The NS-35 mission carried dozens of analysis payloads, however no individuals, marking Blue Origin’s seventh suborbital flight this 12 months.

The mission was initially scheduled for Aug. 23 however scrubbed due to an issue with the booster’s avionics. A second launch try three days later was additionally known as off for a similar purpose.

The capsule touched down beneath parachutes slightly greater than 10 minutes after liftoff, practically three minutes after the booster made a powered touchdown. The capsule reached a peak altitude of 105 kilometers, a typical profile for the car.

After landing, Blue Origin introduced this may be the ultimate flight of RSS H.G. Wells. The firm mentioned on the mission webcast that it was retiring the capsule “after a long and productive service life,” however didn’t elaborate.

Blue Origin first flew RSS H.G. Wells in December 2017 after beforehand utilizing a capsule named RSS Jules Verne. (RSS stands for “Reusable Space Ship”.) At the time, the corporate referred to the capsule as “Crew Capsule 2.0,” highlighting upgrades equivalent to bigger home windows for eventual crewed flights.

RSS H.G. Wells flew a complete of 12 missions, all carrying cargo. Blue Origin constructed a brand new capsule, RSS First Step, for the primary crewed New Shepard missions, and added RSS Kármán Line, one other crewed capsule, to the fleet final 12 months.

The RSS H.G. Wells missions included one failure, NS-23 in September 2022. An issue with the propulsion module’s engine triggered the capsule’s escape motor. While the propulsion module was destroyed, the capsule, carrying solely payloads, landed safely. The identical capsule flew New Shepard’s return-to-flight mission in December 2023.

On its last mission, RSS H.G. Wells carried greater than 40 payloads. They included 24 scholar experiments from NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge, in addition to payloads from the University of Florida, Carthage College, Ecoatoms and Teledyne.

Blue Origin mentioned the capsule will likely be used for verification testing earlier than happening show at a location but to be decided. The firm will proceed to fly payloads on its different New Shepard capsules.

Related