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Blue Origin Mission 9 a Success

The New Shepard crew capsule completed an escape motor launch after booster separation, finishing validation of all crew escape options during launch.

The New Shepard crew capsule reached ground safely. The M9 capsule was unmanned but carried carry science and research payloads. (Image source: Blue Origin)

Earlier this week, Blue Origin  ’s New Shepard  flew for the ninth time, completing a test of the crew capsule escape motor. This launch, known as Mission 9 (M9), marks the highest elevation achieved by Blue Orbit during an incremental build-up of New Shepard system capabilities.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard M9 ready for liftoff. (Image source: Blue Origin)

The unmanned crew capsule was pushed hard by the escape test, with the escape motor firing shortly after booster separation. The M9 was a success for both the booster and capsule and confirmed that future Blue Origin crews will have the ability to safely escape if an anomaly occurs at any time during launch.

The New Shepard system is a fully reusable vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) space vehicle, consisting of a pressurized capsule atop a booster. The combined vehicles launch vertically, accelerating for approximately two and a half minutes, before the engine cuts off.

The capsule then separates from the booster to coast quietly into space. The New Shepard crew capsule is primarily designed for short observation – or space tourism – flights and only travels a relatively short distance past the Kármán line or 100 kilometers above Earth’s sea level.

After a few minutes of free fall, the booster performs an autonomously controlled rocket-powered vertical landing, while the capsule lands softly under parachutes, both ready to be used again.

The New Shepard launch vehicle is a vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) single-stage vehicle. (Image source: Blue Origin)

Alternatively, Blue Origin’s New Glenn  three-stage spacecraft is designed to transport people and payloads into Earth orbit. It also leverages a reusable VTVL launch vehicle.

Blue Origin – headquartered in Kent, Wash. – has methodically tested the New Shepard launch vehicle with simulated failures and contingencies over the past several years, following in the company’s Latin motto of “Gradatim Ferociter!” or “step by step, ferociously.”

In October of 2012, the company replicated a New Shepard booster failure on the launch pad and executed a successful escape. Then, in October of 2016, a simulated booster failure in-flight at “Max Q” – the most physically strenuous point in the flight – was followed by another successful capsule escape.

The M9 test on July 18, 2018 outlined escape motor performance in the near-vacuum of space and demonstrated crew capsule escape during the last phase of the launch.

The New Shepard consists of a single-stage launch vehicle and observation-oriented crew capsule. (Image source: Blue Origin)

Beyond validating crew escape systems, Blue Origin used the modular, 530-cubic-feet M9 crew capsule to carry science and research payloads from commercial companies, universities, and space agencies.

A few notable payloads provided research on WiFi access throughout the launch, demonstrated active stabilization measures for sensitive equipment, and supported development of phase change heat transfer systems.

William Kucinski  is content editor at SAE International, Aerospace Products Group in Warrendale, Pa. Previously, he worked as a writer at the NASA Safety Center in Cleveland, Ohio and was responsible for writing the agency’s System Failure Case Studies. His interests include 'literally anything that has to do with space,' past and present military aircraft, and propulsion technology.

Contact him regarding any article or collaboration ideas by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Topics:
Aerospace Automotive Defense Electrification Launch vehicles Propulsion Reusable launch vehicles and shuttles Spacecraft Spacecraft Vehicles

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    Transcript

    00:00:10 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music]

    00:04:21 [Music] [Music] the human need to explore is deep within all of us our ancestors crossed mountain ranges sailed open oceans to map new lands and sought out the unknown while always looking to the stars we're curious and now we're at a place where we can pioneer new horizons because earth this blue planet and all

    00:05:40 its beauty is just our starting place it's [Music] mandatory to [Music] you [Music] there it is separation [Music] now is the time to open the promise of

    00:06:22 space to all and lay the way for generations to come when our descendants look to the Stars perhaps from a rocky moon or colonies floating in open space they'll remember this time when they reflect on where it started they'll remember this place and when they honor those first explorers who said let's go they'll remember these bold steps we are a Blue Origin

    00:06:52 and this is just the beginning [Music] hello everyone a big welcome from Blue Origin we're getting ready for new Shepards ninth mission to space the clock is at t minus 16 minutes and 40 seconds to go until liftoff for what is going to be an exciting flight for new Shepard right now you're seeing live images of new Shepard on the pad my name

    00:07:22 is Ariane Cornell I am so happy to be your host for this morning's live broadcast during my day job I head up astronaut sales for new Shepard as well as a I'm a Sales Director for new Glenn this is our orbital rocket that's coming online in a couple of years now but today I'm your guide through this ninth mission before we get started a special hello to a couple of our friends back in

    00:07:47 Kent Washington that's our headquarters good morning guys looking good there also a special hello to our team down in Cape Canaveral Florida at our rocket Factory for new Glenn good morning to you all as well all right let's get into the mission at hand we have a very important mission we are going to be testing the most important part of our human spaceflight subsystem that is the

    00:08:10 escape motor in the crew capsule we are going to be firing it in the vacuum of space for the first time we have what's called a full envelope escape system so from the moment that the capsule is on the pad through flight through separation we can fire that escape motor and so we are going to be testing it just after separation to really find what is the the red line on the system

    00:08:36 this is going to be an intense test for both the crew capsule and the booster it's gonna be very exciting in addition to the the test of the escape motor we have a couple of payloads on board today it's the third time that we are going to have paid paying customers on board so let's talk about them mu space from Thailand is one of our first customers this video is from this morning when we

    00:09:01 load it in the payloads they also happen to be by the way one of our first new Glenn customers we will be sending one of their satellites into space in just a couple of years here on new Glenn all so on board today we have a payload from Sol star Sol stars working on technology to put Wi-Fi in space so I don't know if you guys knew this but during our last flight they had the first tweet from new

    00:09:28 Sheppard how cool is that I can't wait till I'm tweeting up there next we've got a payload from called Gaga from Germany this payload is funded by the German Aerospace Center also known as DLR and last but not least we've got a couple of payloads that come to us by way of our friends at NASA so we've got one from the Johnson Space Center as well as three that are coming from the

    00:09:53 flight Opportunities program at NASA so that means one from Purdue University Johns Hopkins University and controlled dynamics a big thank you to all of our customers now to you that are watching at home to the teachers to the students to the companies that want to take advantage of the extraordinary zero-g opportunity that we have with new Shephard please go to our website we

    00:10:19 would love to be flying with you soon okay we are at t minus 13 minutes in 30 seconds to go until launch why don't we take a couple of seconds here to check out new shepard on the patch he is looking good for her flight to space all right let's get back into the main event for today as we said this is going to be a very exciting test flight for us we are going to be testing the escape

    00:11:03 motor in the crew capsule it's an important test in our march towards flying humans into space which hopefully will be soon here after a couple more tests but this is a crucial one for us why don't we get into some of the details now the the crew capsule is gonna launch on top of the boosters gonna be basically a nominal flight up towards separation of the crew capsule

    00:11:26 from the booster we're gonna let the crew capsule in the booster after separation we're gonna give them about 20 seconds about a hundred feet 30 meters or so in distance to separate before we fire the escape motor why do we do that we want to create a little bit of distance between the capsule and the booster because we don't want the exhaust from the 70,000 pound of thrust

    00:11:51 escape motor to affect the trajectory of the booster now we've got a couple of key questions that we're trying to answer today the first one being can we keep bringing back the booster we said we don't want the exhaust to basically tip the the booster we want to bring her back home to be able to reuse her for a couple more flights second question how is this solid rocket motor escape motor

    00:12:14 going to operate in the vacuum of space we've never done this before similarly in turn how is the crew capsule going to perform in the vacuum of space after this very extreme firing of the of the escape motor and last but not least because of the escape it means that the capsule is actually going to go fifty thousand feet higher than we've ever flown the capsule up to about three

    00:12:38 hundred ninety thousand feet are about four hundred thousand feet today that's about 120 kilometers that's very high it's means it's a bit of more energy for the capsule to get rid of before it comes back down to land under parachutes back here in Texas so a an exciting test in store anything can happen there are a lot of variables I can't emphasize enough though how important this test is

    00:13:03 as we march towards humans played on new Shepard okay we are at t-minus 10 minutes and 50 seconds to go before launch new Shepard is looking good it's a beautiful morning down here for a test launch so you guys are listening to this description of today's test thinking that's probably pretty crazy but let me put this test into context any car or

    00:13:47 any plane that you've ever flown in or driven in has gone through this sort of testing so the designers of the aircraft do engine-out test before you fly in them car designers go pedal-to-the-metal to find what the redline is and they go through crashing areas on the car but once you get into day to day operations of those vehicles you don't actually operate them in that extreme side of the

    00:14:09 spectrum and that's exactly what we're doing today we are going to find that redline of the new Shepard rocket test out that that full envelope escape system for our human spaceflight program very very important and so that's that is that for what we got in store for you today this is not actually the first time that we've done an escape test on new Shepard

    00:14:32 October of 2012 we did a pad escape test or we simulated a failure on the pad then fired the escape motor that's 70,000 pounds of thrust it's a solid rocket motor it fires and then as soon as it has completely burned out there then we release the drugs and then the mains completely successful test back in October of 2012 we followed this up in October of 2016 where we tested the

    00:15:05 solid rocket motor the escape motor in flight at max Q when it was the which is basically the most stressful aerodynamic point in the flight for the rocket again perfect test the capsule came back down softly under the parachutes additionally we actually recovered the booster we weren't expecting it because that's not exactly what it's designed for but we brought back the booster and

    00:15:30 now she is sitting pretty in retirement in Florida at Cape Canaveral in our rocket Factory now a big difference between those tests and today we're gonna have mannequin Skywalker on board today there he is he's going up for his third flight to space he will be collecting some very important astronaut data for us that we're gonna be

    00:15:51 crunching there we go it's all chilled out relaxed in his reclined seat there little does he know we've got a pretty intense day in store for him I like you guys to check out this capsule this iteration had the big windows that was the big upgrade big upgrade on the next one will be finished customer interiors it's gonna be a sweet ride I've actually got a preview for you so

    00:16:16 why don't we roll the video for your once-in-a-lifetime journey you will travel past the boundaries of Earth's atmosphere and into outer space featuring windows that comprise one third of the capsules surface structure the largest windows ever in space you'll have a view of the curve of the planet and the vast darkness of the cosmos every detail of the capsule has been

    00:16:45 precision engineered for your safety and comfort with reclining seats specifically designed to absorb the impact of landing and an escape motor that can safely propel the capsule from the booster rocket at the apex of your flight you'll experience weightlessness unbuckling from your seat you're free to explore different perspectives from each window before you return to Earth begins

    00:17:10 this is the beginning of a revolution in space travel and Blue Origin is going to take you there [Music] Wow I cannot wait to go up on new Shepard it's gonna be extraordinary especially in that crew capsule that is pretty cool all right we are at t-minus eight minutes we are in a brief hold just making sure that our teams are

    00:17:38 aligned and that the rocket is all set for her extraordinary test today it's really important especially for such an extreme test that we are we're totally 100% all set to go for the test all right so while we've got a second here why don't we see some images of new Shepard while she's on the pad getting fuelled up looking at her you see there on the left we actually have a new shade

    00:18:04 we want to keep of course the propellant in the in the green for the temperatures and the pressure but also up in the capsule we want to keep the temperatures in the in the green all right thanks everybody for joining us live for new Shepards 9th mission to space this is actually gonna be the third time that this rocket and capsule have flown to space but it's the ninth

    00:18:45 mission in the whole entire test program and while we've got a little bit of time for you I want to talk to you a little bit about West Texas you hear me talking about West Texas a lot because it's a very special place down here it is our home away from home I want to share a little bit more about about this area so we put together a little highlight reel for you why don't we play that

    00:19:18 two hours east of El Paso sits Van Horn population 2000 this small town lies on an isolated edge of Texas with epic views in every direction breathtaking sunsets a seemingly endless horizon hiking trails untouched lands and natural beauty it's our home away from home and when we're here we get to take part in the local culture and on launch days

    00:19:49 locals get a glimpse of new Sheppard as it blasts into space this is the home of new Shepard 20 miles north of Van Horn's Main Street Blue Origin occupies a majestic Valley as far as the eye can see Texas has always been at the forefront of human space exploration it's where the mercury astronauts trained for their first journeys to

    00:20:15 space and was home to Mission Control for the Apollo moon landings now this rich history is being passed to a new generation of astronauts West Texas has been the site of every Blue Origin mission to date soon it will be the launch point for our first human blood where your journey to the edge of space begins

    00:20:39 [Music] I can't tell you guys enough how beautiful it is down here I live up in Seattle and clearly there's a there's quite the juxtaposition between what I get to see up there and what I get to see down here in Van Horn but those sunrises and sunsets are incredible just the open space it's it puts you in a different mindset and I think that

    00:21:12 that's a that's exactly what our astronauts are going to want to be and when they go in for this life-changing trip up to space and back when they come flying with us now we haven't started selling tickets yet for the for the trip to space we haven't set a price we haven't released those details it's coming but we've got our eye on the prize and we got to make sure that we

    00:21:35 understand our system through and through that means understanding everything that's necessary for human spaceflight including the escape system and Blue Origin are all about safety that's our operations and that's also what we build into the design of the rocket and so that is where we are keeping our focus today we are currently at eight minutes to go into launch we

    00:21:58 are in a hold while we wait for our teams to get a line here while we've got a little bit time let's go back and check out some beautiful images of new Shepard and watch her as she gets ready for her flight to space today all right thank you everybody for staying with us we are at t-minus eight minutes to go we are in a brief hold

    00:23:50 want to make sure that our teams are all aligned for the flight to tat flight to space today the extreme test on our escape system in the crew capsule but we're at mission 9 of this test program and at large and we talked about step by step ferociously it is our motto and that's exactly how we approach this test program so we are number nine but it's what we've learned in missions one

    00:24:20 through eight that have gotten us there and so I want to show you guys a highlight reel of those previous flights why don't we take a look five thousand feet to climb there is separation [Music] beautiful launch marking Shepard rock in here from West Texas there is separation

    00:25:37 [Music] [Music] [Music] I love watching that highlight-reel I have been here for every single one of these launches and it's just electric absolutely electric it's what our team's build up for months and months and months and each day is the day right I mean especially that second mission when

    00:26:44 we had the historic launch into space and first landing of a rocket ever incredible and then just a couple months later we reuse that same rocket you show that you can reuse rockets and since then I think we've proven that reusable rockets are here to stay absolutely exciting to be part of New Shepards program as we make history all right we are at t-minus seven minutes and 30

    00:27:09 seconds to go we have come out of a hold and let why don't we get back into our mission so as noted it's gonna be a pretty extreme mission but why don't we get into some of the nitty-gritty and look at it from the perspective of our friend mannequin Skywalker okay so here's going to be strapped into his into his seat in the capsule the capsule will be on top of the booster

    00:27:33 it'll be a nominal flight to space he's gonna start to feel that jeez come on gradually he'll peak at about 3 G's on ascent but it's gonna be relatively comfortable because he's in that reclined position in those in house dot design seats that absorb the G's he's gonna go until main engine cutoff at that point he's gonna start to feel the weightlessness

    00:27:57 it's gonna get nice and quiet because he doesn't have the B III engine underneath him rumbling anymore and then just about 15 seconds later the capsule and the booster are going to separate from each other at that point we are going to let the capsule and the booster separate by about 20 seconds and that's gonna give the give the to craft about a hundred feet or thirty meters of separation

    00:28:23 because when that Escape motor fires it's going to create a big plume of exhaust and we don't want it to tip the rocket because we want that rocket back all right the escape motor fires mannequin Skywalker is going go far and fast away from the booster he's gonna go towards an Apogee or a high altitude of about three hundred

    00:28:47 ninety thousand maybe four hundred thousand feet that's about a hundred 120 kilometres up that's fifty thousand kilometres higher than we have ever gone in the past what we want to see from this test is how the reaction control system is basically a set of mini thrusters on the base of the capsule work to keep the capsule nice and stable we want to stabilize the capsule before

    00:29:10 we bring it back down to earth it's gonna pass through of course back into the atmosphere the drogue parachutes will come out the mains will come out last milliseconds we're gonna have the retro thrusting fire create an air cushion for mannequin Skywalker for nice soft landing back at home in parallel the booster assuming it's not tipped over by the by the escape event will hit

    00:29:37 its own Apogee and then come back down to earth for what we hope to be together again another nominal landing for the rocket this is the third flight to space for both the booster and the capsule so exciting day many variables right anything could happen that's why we love live TV right thanks for joining us for today's test it's gonna be a good one we are at t-minus

    00:30:06 four minutes and 36 seconds to go until this test today why don't we take another look at new Shepard while she's on the pad getting ready to go thank you again everybody for joining us for the ninth mission of this new Sheppard test program we've got our rocket on the pad she is ready to rock and roll I hear from Mission Control that we're

    00:31:21 go for launch we are at t-minus three minutes now team on is two minutes we're gonna throw the show over to the rocket she's a completely autonomous system so it's all in her hands as we count down from there she's gonna go through some of her last-minute checks we're gonna check the aft fins you see them there on your screen you see two there on your screen there two more on the other side

    00:31:43 make sure that they've got free range and we're also gonna see the engine gimbal you see the nozzle kind of peeking out there out of the bottom of the rocket that also needs to make sure that it's got free range of movement movement they work together in concert to direct the vehicle so we need to make sure that they are free to do their thing meanwhile we've got our teams that

    00:32:09 have their eyes glued to their screens and want to make sure in particular that the temperature and pressures in the propellant tank are all in the green and ready to go it's warm down here in Texas this morning and we want to make sure that the ambient temperature isn't isn't affecting the the propellants too much so that's why we're making sure that we've got everything continuing to be a

    00:32:32 go for launch we are at t-minus two minutes and 29 seconds we are in a brief hold here as we get ready for the ninth test mission to space and I understand we are out of the brief hold everything is looking good for our launch today see - one minute and 40 seconds to go the gantry is retracting the control has been sent over to the

    00:33:45 rocket let's wait for those gimbal checks [Music] there go the Finch axe [Music] there goes the engine gimble check you can feel the excitement down here in Texas at this point let's turn it over to Mission Control okay I'm ready for an

    00:34:51 exciting ride manikin Skywalker that is to internal t-minus 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 command engine start two one go baby go a beautiful liftoff of our new Shepherd rocket here from West Texas listen to that beat III engine war you can follow along as she gains speed up to space in your top right corner of your screen bottom left follow along it

    00:35:59 with the altimeter you may have seen we started about 3,600 3,700 feet that's our altitude down here at our West Texas launch site just about at max Q which where the aerodynamic stresses are out there maximum on the rocket [Music] [Music] looks like a nice clean burn on that B III engine

    00:36:47 the next milestone on her flight to space will be main engine cutoff ninety thousand feet and climbing thank you again for joining us for this live test of our new Shepherd rocket we are within seconds of this exciting escape test we'll be firing the escape motor in the crew capsule about 20 seconds after separation of the capsule from the booster

    00:37:41 main engine cutoff the rocket is still ascending toward space separation confirmed there goes the escape motor the crew capsule has blasted away from the booster as planned let's see how the reaction control system on the base of the capsule reacts we want to stabilize the capsule prior to it reentering the

    00:38:44 atmosphere for a nice smooth landing back here home the capsule is continuing up towards space towards its Apogee you can see on the top right corner of your screen it's slowing down once it hits zero you know it's hit its max altitude and then of course it's going to regain speed as it comes back home thank you again for joining us for this

    00:39:37 live test we have just fired the escape motor in the capsule at about 250,000 feet so far everything looks good the capsule has reached its Apogee and is heading back home everything from this vantage point is looking nominal in our test today now the booster is gonna beat the capsule back home as an ax nominal flight first milestone as a returns home

    00:40:25 that's gonna help ensure and give us confidence that it wasn't affected by the escape testa's we're gonna see the wedge fins deploy at the top of the rocket they'll come out of the ring fin both the ring fin and the forward fins are the wedge fins support support the stability of the rocket as it comes back to land at our landing pad just two miles north of where it's taken off from

    00:41:03 there are the wedge fins they've come out that is an excellent sign all right the next step here the drag breaks are going to deploy you'll see the speed of the booster reduced dramatically and that is before the engine restarts for nice soft landing there go the drag breaks and relight and touchdown welcome back that is the

    00:42:46 third trip to space and back for that rocket just another day at the office all right let's turn it back to the crew capsule from what I understand everything is nominal so far with the crew capsule did you guys see that hover absolutely beautiful again thank you for joining us for this live test of our new Shepherd system we flew up to about two hundred fifty

    00:43:30 thousand feet 75 kilometres we fired the escape motor to see how the capsule would react and the engine would react the ski motor that is in the vacuum of space the booster came down for a beautiful beautiful soft landing back here in Texas all right and there is the crew capsule the droves have come out excellent sign there go the mains slightly reefed and

    00:44:34 they will go to full inflation gorgeous and look how stable the capsule is after such an extreme event up there in space manikin is ready to come home he probably peaked at about 10 G's or so but you know what that is well within what humans can can take especially for such a short spirit of time and in those reclined seats it's just important that we bring the astronauts home safely a

    00:45:10 nice stable hover there at about 16 miles an hour some great shots of those big beautiful windows on the capsule anything could have happened today and this is the best possible outcome about a thousand feet above ground level now 500 feet and touchdown absolutely beautiful welcome home new Shepard what a test

    00:46:42 today wow you saw the last minute there those retro thrust 'm had a beautiful fire kicked up some dust manikin had a smooth smooth landing as did our friend the booster came back for a beautiful hover and soft landing on its landing pad wow what a day for the rocket for our team big high-five to our team back in Kent that was an extraordinary test what a

    00:47:14 system you saw the drogues also coming back down Wow with anything that could have happened that was picture-perfect from this vantage point we're going to have of course all the official statistics and updates for you within a couple of hours after the flight but we want to do give you a couple of unofficial stats here mission launch time 10 11 a.m. Central

    00:47:39 Standard Time maximum ascent philosophy 2,000 236 miles an hour the capsule reached an Apogee of three hundred and eighty nine thousand eight hundred and forty six feet that was almost 120 kilometers an hour mission elapsed time 11 minutes and 17 seconds of excitement I'm still catching my breath down here Wow look at that capsule manikin had quite the ride

    00:48:08 so important this test for us today this safety system is absolutely important to understand before we put people on board the capsule we can't wait to take you guys to space on this one day I can't wait to ride in that capsule to space one day absolutely look at those gorgeous shots spectacular this is going to conclude our live webcast for today if you want

    00:48:41 to know more about the origin or check out the the jobs that we have available we'd love to have the best and brightest of you come join us at porridge and check out our website my name is Ari and Cornell it has been an absolute honor to be your host for today and until our next exciting test grade autumn ferocity [Music] [Music]

    00:49:38 [Music]

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