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2mo ago

Blue Origin Simulates Lunar Gravity in Landmark New Shepard Flight

The uncrewed mission successfully recreated moon-like conditions for over two minutes, advancing lunar exploration technology.

The New Shepard vehicle developed by billionaire Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to fly cargo and humans on short trips to the edge of space prepares to launch Tuesday from West Texas. In a first, the spacecraft's capsule successfully rotated mid-flight in a maneuver to mimic lunar gravity.
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Blue Origin's New Shepard capsule returns to Earth on the NS-29 suborbital mission Feb. 4. One of three parachutes did not initially inflate but did fully open before landing.

Overview

  • Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft simulated lunar gravity for the first time during its 29th flight over West Texas.
  • The capsule spun at 11 revolutions per minute to recreate the moon's low gravity for approximately two minutes, a significant advancement over previous methods.
  • The mission carried 30 science payloads, mostly from NASA, aimed at testing technology critical for future lunar exploration under the Artemis program.
  • Both the rocket booster and capsule landed safely despite a minor delay in one of the capsule's parachutes deploying during descent.
  • This achievement follows Blue Origin's maiden flight of its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket in January, as the company continues to compete with SpaceX in commercial space ventures.