Suborbital Spaceflight

New Shepard

Our reusable launch vehicle is taking payloads - and soon you - to space.

Wally and Jeff face each other as Jeff affixes astronaut wings to Wally's flight suit. A Blue Origin employee looks on in the background holding a microphone.

EXPERIENCE NEW SHEPARD

Learn more about becoming an astronaut by flying on New Shepard.

An astronaut jubilantly departs the New Shepard crew capsule following a successful flight to space.

LATEST FLIGHT

NS-22

SUBORBITAL SPACEFLIGHT

Meet New Shepard

Named after Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space, New Shepard is our reusable suborbital rocket system designed to take astronauts and research payloads past the Kármán line – the internationally recognized boundary of space. Whether you are an astronaut flying with Blue Origin or sending a payload to space, your 11-minute flight on New Shepard will be the experience of a lifetime.

A diagram of New Shepard showing the crew capsule hovering above the booster.

THE EXPERIENCE

The Capsule

With room for six astronauts, the spacious and pressurized crew capsule is environmentally-controlled for comfort and every astronaut gets their own window seat. The vehicle is fully autonomous. There are no pilots.

An interactive image of New Shepard's crew capsule highlighting features including the crew escape system, handholds to support movement during zero-g, large windows, and screens showing vehicle information during flight.
  • Largest windows in space
  • Reclined seats with 5-point harness
  • Crew escape system
  • Handholds for ease of movement during zero-g
  • Screen for in-flight updates and indicators
New Shepard's crew capsule descends under parachutes.

GRADATIM FEROCITER

Safety, Blue Origin's Top Mission

Blue Origin has been flight testing New Shepard and its redundant safety systems since 2012. The program has had 22 successful consecutive missions including three successful escape tests, showing the crew escape system can activate safely in any phase of flight.

ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES

Protecting Our Planet

Building a road to space starts with reusable vehicles and New Shepard is the first step in realizing that mission. The entire New Shepard system has been designed for operational reusability and minimal maintenance between flights from day one to decrease the cost of access to space and reduce waste. Nearly 99% of New Shepard’s dry mass is reused, including the booster, capsule, ring fin, engine, landing gear, and parachutes. New Shepard’s BE-3PM engine is fueled by highly efficient and clean liquid oxygen and hydrogen. During flight, the only byproduct of New Shepard’s engine combustion is water vapor with no carbon emissions.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Human-Tended Research Opportunities

New Shepard payload flights have supported a wide range of research, education, and technology development. Now, with astronauts on board, we can add skilled hands, extending the laboratory to space and training crews for real-world flight operations.

Blue Origin employees demonstrate how astronauts sit in the New Shepard crew capsule.
Blue Origin employees celebrate on the landing pad in front of New Shepard following its historic first landing in 2015.

Send Something to Space with Blue

Fly Your Research and Technology

Whether you’re a school who wants your own space program for the cost of sports uniforms or a researcher using microgravity to test your technology, New Shepard is enabling low cost, frequent access to space.