blue-origin

Latest

Blue Origin is challenging SpaceX's Artemis lander contract from NASA
Jeff's Bezos' rocket company claims NASA improperly awarded the contract to its rival.
SpaceX wins NASA's Artemis lunar lander contract
Elon Musk's company will take astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972.
DARPA picks Lockheed Martin and Blue Origin to build nuclear spacecraft
DARPA has picked Jeff Bezo's Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin and General Atomics to build and demonstrate a spacecraft driven by nuclear thermal propulsion.
Blue Origin's 15th New Shepard test flight serves as an astronaut rehearsal
The launch window for New Shepard's 15th test flight opens on April 14th, 9AM Eastern time. That particular test, aptly codenamed NS-15, will serve as a verification step for the vehicle and its operations prior to flying astronauts to suborbital space.
NASA approves $93 million mission to study the Moon ahead of Artemis
NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace a $93.3 million contract to carry out a mission to conduct experiments and test new technologies on the Moon.
NASA's delayed Moon lander contracts cast doubt on Artemis timeline
NASA has delayed two lunar lander contracts in a further sign the Artemis program might not put people on the Moon in 2024.
Blue Origin's upgraded New Shepard vehicle completes its first flight
It’s New Shepard’s 14th mission overall, but it’s the first for both the redesigned crew capsule and its booster.
NASA approves Blue Origin's New Glenn for future uncrewed missions
NASA has approved Blue Origin’s New Glenn heavy lift rocket for future unmanned scientific and exploration missions, even though the 310 foot reusable booster has yet to fly.
Watch the Blue Origin sensor test that will help NASA land on the Moon (update: scrubbed)
Blue Origin is set to launch its reusable New Shepard rocket on a suborbital mission today (September 24th) and test sensors for a vehicle that could one day land on the Moon.
Blue Origin has been trying to get the hell off this planet for 20 years now
Blue Origin has built three New Shepards to date. (The crew capsule was unharmed; the rocket stage, not so much.) It comes in two variants: a 270-foot-tall two-stage rocket and a 313-foot-tall three-stage rocket.
Blue Origin's lunar lander mockup is ready for NASA simulations
Blue Origin and its “National Team” partners Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper have delivered their full scale lunar lander mock-up to NASA. The space agency will use the engineering prototype to simulate how it could get “crew, equipment, supplies and samples off and on the vehicle” in future moon missions.
Senate bill offers more incentives for private spaceflight
The Senate's proposed American Space Commerce Act would give private spaceflight companies more incentives, including tax breaks.
Blue Origin and SpaceX win contracts to develop NASA's Moon spacecraft
Blue Origin and SpaceX are two of three companies that won NASA contracts for spacecraft key to the Artemis Moon mission.
Blue Origin shows off the engine and nose cone of its reusable rocket
In late 2018, the US Air Force awarded Blue Origin $500 million to build the New Glenn rocket with a reusable first stage and performance similar to SpaceX's Falcon Heavy. We haven't heard a lot since then, but Jeff Bezos' company has just shared a couple of updates on development, showing the immense scale of the new rocket and how the upper stage engines work.
Blue Origin teams with spaceflight veterans to complete its lunar lander
Blue Origin won't be alone in working on a crewed lunar lander that will (hopefully) participate in NASA's Artemis program. Jeff Bezos' outfit has unveiled a trio of partners that will help it complete the Human Landing System, all of which are space industry veterans. Lockheed Martin will work on the reusable Ascent Element vehicle as well as lead crewed flight ops. Northrop Grumman, meanwhile, will produce the Transfer Element that brings the landing system toward the Moon. Draper, in turn, will handle descent guidance and avionics.
Blue Origin might not send humans to space until 2020
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin still plans to offer space tourism trips on its New Shepard rocket, but before any passengers take flight, the company is expected to launch at least two more uncrewed test flights. Tuesday, Blue Origin filed an application for its next test flight with the Federal Communications Commission, CNBC reports. The filing is for "Flight #12 on the New Shepard space launch booster and capsule." The earliest it might happen is November.
Watch astronauts install commercial spacecraft adapter on the ISS
NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan are floating around in low Earth orbit today, installing the second of two docking adapters on the International Space Station. The international docking adapters -- or IDAs -- will allow Boeing and SpaceX commercial spacecraft to connect to the ISS and deliver crew members and supplies. Earthbound humans can watch the spacewalk on NASA's live feed below.
NASA will help SpaceX and Blue Origin develop future mission technology
NASA is helping 13 companies develop technologies that could benefit its future missions. Jim Reuter, the associate administrator of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, explained that the agency has identified the key areas it needs for future missions, including its planned crewed flights to the moon and Mars. "[T]hese public-private partnerships will accelerate their development so we can implement them faster," he added. Those key areas are as follows: Advanced Communications, Navigation and Avionics; Advanced Materials; Entry, Descent and Landing; In-Space Manufacturing and Assembly; Power; Propulsion; and Other Exploration Technologies.
Recommended Reading: The race back to the Moon
Dueling superpowers, rival billionaires. Inside the new race to the Moon Jeffrey Kluger, Time SpaceX, Blue Origin and others are in a heated battle to help NASA return the US to the Moon. Time takes an in-depth look at the new space race and the key players fighting for a piece of the prize.
SpaceX sues over 'wrongly awarded' Air Force rocket contracts
To say that SpaceX was unhappy with losing out on the US Air Force's rocket development contracts would be an understatement. The company has sued the US government under claims that the Air Force "wrongly awarded" contracts to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and United Launch Alliance. The military branch handed out offers to the competition despite their "unproven rockets" and "unstated metrics," while allegedly ignoring SpaceX's own real-world record. The company had completed numerous missions with its Falcon rockets, according to the lawsuit, but was deemed "highest risk" because of its largely untested Starship.