Before the first passenger launch of the New Shepard 4 Blue Origin rocket and Crew Capsule. Let’s take a closer look at its wonders and capabilities. Jeff and Mark Bezos, with another passenger on a seat worth 28 million dollars would be the first passengers to be launched by the space tourism and aerospace company.
The New Shepard
The NS4 also known as RSS First Step, is the fourth installation of the New Shepard flight rockets named after astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space. And this propulsion module will be deployed into space with its first passengers on 20th July 2021
This is not the first time the New Shepard has gone on a trip to space, Blue Origin have been flight testing New Shepard rockets and their redundant safety systems since 2012. They have completed 15 successful missions, including three successful tests of the crew escape system,
The New Shepard was designed to propel past the Kármán line (the line that defines the boundary between our atmosphere and outer space) into outer space for a wonderful space experience. It begins by launching vertically, performing a powered flight for about 110 seconds and to an altitude of 40 kilometres.
The craft's momentum carries it upward in unpowered flight as the vehicle slows, reaching an altitude just over 100km. After reaching apogee, the vehicle would perform a descent and restart its main engines a few tens of seconds before vertical landing. The total duration of this experience is about 10 minutes. Close to reaching peak altitude, the Crew Capsule detaches from the propulsion module and floats in space for a few minutes for the space experience before descending later and land with the help of parachutes and retro boosters.
The Crew Capsule
The centre of appeal of the New Shepard propulsion module is the Crew Capsule; A highly pressurized, oval-shaped capsule designed for fundamental human safety. it interior is made up of six seats, each having a window. "Everyone gets a view". It has control systems installed onboard that controls the environment within the capsule.
The seats are designed for comfortability, having shock-absorbent mechanisms. and design aesthetics for a wonderful ride through space.
Upon descent, two or three parachutes are deployed to control the free fall of the capsule. Just before landing, retro rockets fire to reduce the impact velocity of the Crew Capsule. The crew module can also separate in case of vehicle malfunction or other emergency using solid propellant separation boosters and perform a parachute landing.
The BE-3
The wonders of the New Shepard do not end without showing off the BE-3. The propulsion module is powered by the BE-3 (Blue Engine 3), a bipropellant cryogenic engine that burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to produce 490 kilonewtons of thrust at full power, and successfully throttle down to as low as 89 kilonewtons.
The BE-3 is the third installation of the Blue Engine series, it completed production and started initial testing by 2015. In November 2015, it successfully performed a powered vertical soft landing, the first time a suborbital booster rocket had returned from space to make a successful vertical landing.
The Rockets also has other features, like the Aft fins, Drag Brakes, Ring and wedge fins and Landing gear.
Blue Origin has had its share of failures, but success in the launch mission of the New Shepard on July 20th will place a mark in history as the beginning of something new.