Space Commerce

Another Successful Blue Origin Flight

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
December 12, 2017
Filed under ,
Another Successful Blue Origin Flight
Blue Origin Flight
Blue Origin

New Shepard flew again for the seventh time on Dec. 12, 2017, from Blue Origin’s West Texas Launch Site.
Known as Mission 7 (M7), the mission featured the next-generation booster and the first flight of Crew Capsule 2.0.

– Crew Capsule 2.0 features large windows, measuring 2.4 feet wide, 3.6 feet tall.
– M7 also included 12 commercial, research and education payloads onboard.

M7 Mission Details

– Launch time: 10:59 a.m. CST
– Booster Apogee
— 322,032 feet (AGL) (98.16 kilometers)
— 325,702 feet (MSL) (99.27 kilometers)
– Crew Capsule 2.0 Apogee
— 322,405 feet (AGL) (98.27 kilometers)
— 326,075 feet (MSL) (99.39 kilometers)
– Maximum ascent velocity: Mach 2.94
– Booster maximum descent velocity: Mach 3.74
– Booster re-ignition: 3,716 feet (AGL)
– Controlled vertical landing of Booster: 6.75 mph
– Deployment of Crew Capsule 2.0 drogue parachutes: 6,463 feet (AGL)
– Landing of Crew Capsule 2.0 under parachutes: 11:10 a.m. CST
– Total mission elapsed time: 10 minutes and 6 seconds

“Today’s flight of New Shepard was a tremendous success. It marks the inaugural flight of our next-generation Crew Capsule as we continue step-by-step progress in our test flight program,” said Bob Smith, CEO, Blue Origin.

“Congratulations to the entire Blue Origin team on a job well done and to our payload customers that gathered important data on the suborbital environment. Gradatim Ferociter.”

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SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.