May 2, 2019 Update:
New Shepard had a great mission on May 2,
2019. This particular rocket has flown to space and back 5 times. The mission
flew 38 payloads for a variety of schools, universities, government agencies
and private companies.
May 1, 2019:
We’re targeting New Shepard’s next launch on May 2, 2019, with
liftoff scheduled for 8:30 am CDT / 13:30 UTC. The mission, named NS-11, will take 38
payloads above the Kármán line into space.
Some of the payloads flying with us include:
Orbital Medicine – Orbital
Medicine, a small business focused on aerospace medicine, comes to us
through funding from NASA’s Flight
Opportunities Program. On NS-11, Marsh Cuttino, MD, will
demonstrate an experimental medical technology designed to treat a
collapsed lung in zero gravity (which
is a gravity-dependent procedure). Thanks to a previous flight on New
Shepard, Dr. Cuttino has been able to evolve the technology and this
flight will prove a near-final version that could one day save lives in
space.
New Century
Technology High School – A
group of students from Huntsville, AL have designed an experiment to test
temperature fluctuations in microgravity. The students were excited to get
hands-on experience for a project they’ll be able to launch to space and
worked with NASA engineers to perfect their design. By lowering launch costs, more
and more students will have the chance to design, build and send
technology to space.
MIT Media Lab
Space Exploration Initiative – The Space Exploration Initiative
is built on the spirit of the MIT Media Lab, uniting artists,
engineers, scientists, and designers. As the first MIT flight with New
Shepard, the Space Exploration Initiative is flying several scientific
payloads, as well as two projects that use zero gravity as a medium for
works of art. Telepresent Drawings in Space uses graphite
to create a drawing that could only have been made in space. Living
Distance: A Spider-Inspired Robotic Dance in Weightlessness demonstrates
a crystalline robotic device that navigates zero gravity, similar to a
performance. Other payloads include TESSERAE: Self Assembling
Space Architecture, Floral Cosmonauts: Crystal
Electro-Nucleation and Queen Bee Maiden Flight.
You can
watch the launch live with our webcast on www.blueorigin.com starting 20 minutes
before liftoff. Follow @BlueOrigin on Twitter for launch updates!
Blue Origin will
update this thread with more mission information as updates become available.
