New Shepard Mission NS-12 Updates

New Shepard had a wholly successful mission on December 11, 2019.

This mission was another step towards verifying New Shepard for human spaceflight as we continue to mature the safety and reliability of the vehicle.

This was the 6th flight for this particular New Shepard vehicle. Blue Origin has so far reused two boosters five times each consecutively, so today marks a record with this booster completing its 6th flight to space and back.

This particular rocket has been an operational payload vehicle for several flights, meaning there are no more updates to the system.

This was also the 9th commercial payload mission for New Shepard, and we are proud to be have flown our 100th customer on board.

NS-12 Update: December 8 

Blue Origin's next New Shepard mission (NS-12) is currently targeting liftoff tomorrow, December 10th at 8:30 am CST / 14:30 UCT. Current weather conditions aren't as favorable as we'd like, but we're continuing to keep an eye on the forecast.

As we move towards verifying New Shepard for human spaceflight we are continuing to mature the safety and reliability of the vehicle.

It's the 6th flight for this particular New Shepard vehicle, marking the first time a Blue Origin booster has made this many consecutive flights (the previous booster flew five times consecutively) - all with minimal refurbishment between flights. This particular rocket has been an operational payload vehicle for several flights, meaning there are no more updates to the system.

This will also be the 9th commercial payload mission for New Shepard, and we are proud to be flying our 100th customer on board.

Also on the vehicle are thousands of postcards from students around the world for our nonprofit Club for the Future. The Club's mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and help visualize the future of life in space.

You can watch the launch live at BlueOrigin.com — the pre-show begins T-30 where Blue will provide more mission details and updates.

To follow the action, we'll be posting live updates on Instagram and Twitter.

Blue Origin Twitter and Instagram

Club for Future Twitter and Instagram

New Shepard Mission NS-12 Notable Payloads Manifested:

OK Go

Earlier this year we partnered with rock band OK Go on a contest called Art in Space, giving high school and middle school students a chance to send art experiments into space on our New Shepard vehicle. We are sending the two winning art projects on NS-12.

Columbia University

One of our educational payloads from Columbia University, designed and built by undergraduate students and advised by Dr. Michael Massimino (an astronaut), will study the acute impacts of microgravity environments on cell biology. This is crucial for humans living and working in space.

OSCAR

OSCAR, which was led by principal investigator Dr. Annie Meier, is a recycling technology payload from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It is designed to create a mixture of gasses that could be used for propulsion or life support from common waste on a deep space human exploration mission. This is Blue's first full-stack payload, meaning there will be more room to do complex studies in flight.

-Gradatim Ferociter