[ad_1]
NEW YORK – As Blue Origin prepares to embark pbadengers on its suborbital New Shepard vehicle, the company's founder announces how far the vehicle can reach put in the advantage on SpaceShipTwo from Virgin Galactic.
In an interview with SpaceNews on the stage at a Wings Club luncheon on Feb. 20, Jeff Bezos reiterated that other Blue Origin executives had said that New Shepard Later this year.
"It's the first time I repeat this year," he said about these projects. "It's been a few years that I say" next year. "
Related: Launch photos! Blue Origin NS-10 flight for NASA
New Shepard underwent a flight test program with no one on board, including his last flight, NS-10, January 23. This test program "is going really well," he said, citing important milestones such as the exhaust system test for the vehicle crew capsule. "We tested all the envelopes to escape us – it's one of the most complicated things we've done."
While Blue Origin is preparing to send pbadengers to New Shepard, Virgin Galactic is also getting closer to commercial flights with its SpaceShipTwo. The latest test of the suborbital space plane, scheduled for February 20 from Mojave Air and Space Port, has been postponed due to winds. The company said it would do it Try again on February 22nd.
Bezos, in the interview, pointed out the difference in altitude between the two vehicles. New Shepard has generally exceeded 100 kilometers, an altitude known as Karman Line, during its test flights. The SpaceShipTwo peaked 82.7 km on its last test flight on December 13th.This is the first time above the 80 km (80 km) limit used by US government agencies to award astronaut wings.
"One of the problems that Virgin Galactic will have to solve, ultimately, is that they do not fly over the Karman line, not yet," Bezos said. "I think that one of the things that they will have to understand [is] how to arrive above the Karman line. "
"We still had a mission to fly above the Karman line because we did not want there to be an asterisk next to your name to indicate whether you are an astronaut or not", was he continued. "It's something that they'll have to solve, in my opinion."
For those flying on New Shepard, he said, there will be "no asterisks".
Bezos pointed out in his remarks that "although we are in very good shape" in New Shepard's development program, he is not motivated by the timetable. "I keep reminding the team – I'm relentless about it – that it's not a race," he said. "I want to fly this year with humans, but we will fly when we are ready."
In an interview that also addressed society New Glenn Orbital Launcher and the BE-4 engine that will power it, Bezos explained how New Shepard would fit into this overall development plan.
"The strategic goal of New Shepard is to practice," he said. "Many of New Shepard's subcomponents are directly reused at the second stage of New Glenn." This includes, he noted, a variant of the New Shepard BE-3 engine that will be used for the second stage of New Glenn.
"All these systems will receive a lot of practice with this suborbital mission and will be transferred directly to the higher stage of New Glenn," he said. "Lessons learned on things like landings, operability and reusability, all those things from the New Shepard program – are also part of the New Glenn booster."
He also linked New Shepard early in the era of aviation, where such flights helped develop expertise enabling the aviation sector to develop in the early twentieth century. "It's going to be our storm," he said of New Shepard.
This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to cover all aspects of the space industry.
Read SpaceNews for the latest news from the space industry
Source link
