



Blue Origin, a major private player in the space industry, successfully launched its reusable New Shepard rocket yesterday for the 10th time, moving yet one step closer to sending humans to space as tourists. The mission lasted 10 minutes and 15 seconds and reached an altitude of 107 kilometres. Inside the rocket was a capsule in which the company plans to send humans to space. Experts predict that the first suborbital tourist will go up to space by the end of this year.





New Shepard is a reusable rocket, with virtually every element of its system available for reuse.

The two main parts – the launch vehicle and the capsule – disconnect at the height of 100+ kilometres above Earth, and the space tourists get to experience weightlessness while observing breathtaking views.





The General Director of the private space company KosmoKurs Pavel Pushkin said that the Blue Origin launch was in full compliance with the flight program.





“This launch is another serious step towards the beginning of the era of suborbital tourism. There were payloads onboard, and it can be said that the launch was commercial. I think by the end of 2019, we will see the first flight of suborbital tourism. There is even hope that by summertime, the first human – although not a tourist – will successfully take this flight,” Pushkin told Asgardia Space News.













Despite the fact that yesterday's launch was uncrewed, there were eight scientific experiments aboard the New Shepard. Under an agreement with NASA, Blue Origin provides academic institutions the opportunity to conduct their research projects in microgravity as part of test launches. During the rocket launch, weightlessness conditions are created inside the New Shepard for a few minutes, providing an ideal environment for scientific experiments. For example, during this launch, the equipment that measured the strength of the electromagnetic field around the launch vehicle was onboard the rocket. Another onboard experiment aimed to understand how to properly organise the cooling of electronics with the high-density arrangement of elements.





For now, Blue Origin has only one major competitor: Virgin Galactic, owned by billionaire Richard Branson. On 13 December 2018, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo reached of the border of space for the first time.





“For today, both teams are at the same stage, but with Blue Origin, the equipment itself and the flight pattern are more worked out. I think that as soon as Blue Origin learns about its competitor’s plans for a first tourist launch, they will be eager to fly first and get all the possible permits,” Pushkin noted.





Blue Origin, which is owned by Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos, plans to present an improved version of the New Shepard to be used for the first commercial launch, planned for this year. However, the exact timing remains unknown. In July 2018, representatives of Blue Origin have said that one seat on the New Shepard would presumably cost $200,000-$300,000. The spaceship will be able to take six people aboard, and tickets will go up for sale this year. Already, more than 700 people have bought tickets for the Virgin Galactic flight.





Photo & Video Credit: Blue Origin