Blue Origin’s Next Launch: NS-13
Blue Origin’s next New Shepard mission (NS-13) is currently targeting liftoff on Thursday, September 24, at 10:00 am CDT / 15:00 UTC.
Here’s what to know about this flight:
· This will be the 13th New Shepard mission and the 7th consecutive flight for this particular vehicle (a record), demonstrating its operational reusability.
· Twelve commercial payloads will be included on this mission, including the Deorbit, Descent, and Landing Sensor Demonstration in partnership with NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate under a Tipping Point partnership.
o The lunar landing sensor demo will test precision landing technologies for future missions to the Moon in support of the Artemis program. It’s the first payload to fly mounted on the exterior of a New Shepard booster rather than inside the capsule.
o More information on this demo is included in the press release below.
· New Shepard has flown more than 100 payloads to space across 10 sequential flights.
o Payloads on board NS-13 include experiments from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Southwest Research Institute, NASA Flight Opportunities, Space Lab Technologies, University of Florida, Space Environment Technologies, and mu Space Corp.
o A selection of the manifested payloads can be found in the press release as well.
· Also on board will be tens of thousands of postcards from Blue Origin’s nonprofit, Club for the Future, some of which will include a NASA Artemis stamp.
You can tune into the launch live at BlueOrigin.com. The pre-show will begin T-30 minutes and will provide more mission details and updates, including a special update from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.
Supporting assets, including the full blog post and an infographic showing the lunar landing sensor demo, can be found within the media kit. Follow Blue Origin’s blog for updates as well as @BlueOrigin on Twitter and
