New Shepard
Sign in to saveAlso known as Blue Origin New Shepard
suborbital rocket developed by Blue Origin
Key facts
- Function
- Launching tourists and cargo on a suborbital trajectory
- Manufacturer
- Blue Origin
- Country of origin
- United States of America
- Height
- 19.2 m (63 ft)
- Diameter
- 3.8 m (12.5 ft)
- Mass
- 35,000 kg (77,000 lb)
- Status
- Paused
- Launch sites
- Launch Site One
- First flight
- April 29, 2015 ; 11 years ago ( April 29, 2015 )
- Last flight
- January 22, 2026
- Powered by
- 1 × BE-3
- Maximum thrust
- 490 kN (110,000 lbf)
- Burn time
- 141 seconds
- Propellant
- LH 2 / LOX
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 3.6
- Image
- New Shepard booster at Oshkosh Airventure 2017 02 (36143645465).jpg
- Height
- 18
Show 2 more facts
- Commons category
- New Shepard
- hashtag
- NewShepard
via Wikidata · CC0
~20 min read
Article
New Shepard is a fully reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin. The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, for being the first American to travel into space, also being the fifth person to walk on the Moon. The vehicle is capable of vertical takeoff and landings. Additionally, it is also capable of carrying humans and customer payloads into a sub-orbital trajectory.
New Shepard consists of a launch rocket and a crew capsule. The capsule can be configured to house up to six passengers, cargo, or a combination of both. The launch rocket is powered by one BE-3PM engine, which sends the capsule above the Kármán line, where passengers and cargo can experience a few minutes of weightlessness before the capsule returns to Earth.