EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Blue Origin is preparing for another launch from West Texas.
New Shepard, which is the company’s reusable suborbital rocket system, is scheduled to launch on Monday, Dec. 18. The launch window opens at 7:30 a.m. Mountain Time from Launch Site One, which is about 25 miles north of Van Horn, Texas.
The rocket system, named after Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, is scheduled for its 24th flight and 13th payload mission.
The manifest includes 33 payloads and 38,000 postcards from students around the world.
This mission will bring the number of payloads flown to space on New Shepard to more than 150, according to a news release sent out by Blue Origin.
More than half of the payloads on this flight are developed and flown with support from NASA. Others come from K-12 schools, universities, and STEAM-focused organizations.
“The program has also completed six astronaut missions and flown 31 humans above the Kármán line (the internationally recognized boundary of space). From an environmental standpoint, nearly 99% of New Shepard’s dry mass is reused, including the booster, capsule, engine, landing gear, and parachutes. New Shepard’s engine is fueled by highly efficient liquid oxygen and hydrogen. During flight, the only byproduct is water vapor with no carbon emissions,” according to Blue Origin.
The webcast will start at T-20 minutes at BlueOrigin.com.
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