Blue Origin’s New Shepard Rocket Set for Return to Action Next Week

The space tourism firm could fly a cargo mission as soon as Monday as it seeks to get back into the commercial space race.

Jack Daleo

Thursday, December 14, 2023 at 03:22 PM ET

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Blue Origin’s New Shepard lifts off for the NS-22 mission on August 4, 2022. [Courtesy: Blue Origin]

Key Takeaways:

Commercial space travel is a competitive and growing industry, with Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic as primary contenders.
Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket is scheduled to resume flights on December 18, over a year after being grounded due to an uncrewed capsule crash caused by a faulty engine nozzle.
During Blue Origin's grounding, rival Virgin Galactic progressed by launching its first commercial spaceflight with paying customers in June and conducting subsequent monthly flights.
Despite the recent hiatus, Blue Origin previously flew high-profile passengers and continues to pursue major projects, including the New Glenn rocket, NASA contracts, and the Orbital Reef space station.

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Whether you view it as a small step for the 1 percent or a giant leap for all mankind, commercial space travel has arrived. And the race for the industry’s pole position is heating up.

Blue Origin, the space tourism venture of billionaire ex-Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, announced on X, formerly Twitter, that the company’s New Shepard rocket could fly again as soon as Monday. New Shepard had been grounded by the FAA following the crash of an uncrewed escape capsule in September 2022.