2023-12-19 20:58:00
The 24th mission of Blue Origin, the space tourism company owned by Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, was successful and marked another step in the trajectory of the startup trying to advance in the American space scene.
The New Shepard rocket took off from West Texas on Tuesday morning, reaching a maximum altitude of approximately 100 kilometers. During the flight, the unmanned capsule successfully separated from the booster, both returning safely to Earth.
Initially scheduled for December 18, the launch was postponed due to low temperatures and problems on the ground that required a solution by the technical team. The NS-24 mission carried 33 payloads, more than half of which came from NASA and others from educational institutions. Additionally, the capsule had 38,000 postcards from students around the world.
The success of this mission is remarkable considering that comes more than a year following Blue Origin abruptly halted its NS-23 mission due to a thruster failure. After an investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration identified the cause as a “structural failure of an engine nozzle caused by higher than expected engine operating temperatures.”
The FAA imposed 21 corrective actions, including the redesign of specific engine and nozzle components, before authorizing Blue Origin to conduct another launch.
While Blue Origin has already taken humans to space, this recent success represents a significant step forward toward the company’s goal of making space travel accessible to a wider audience.
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