Jeff Bezos’s company was targeting the launch of ‘NS-21’, the next mission of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle. reports According to, now this plan has been postponed. The New Shepard Suborbital Vehicle is a rocket built by Blue Origin. The New Shepard suborbital vehicle consists of a rocket and a capsule. Both of these can be used again.
Blue Origin has reported that during final vehicle checkout, it was discovered that one of New Shepard’s backup systems was not meeting expectations on performance levels. Taking precautions, the launch on Friday is now being delayed.
During our final vehicle check-outs, we observed one of New Shepard’s back-up systems was not meeting our expectations for performance. In an abundance of caution, we will be delaying the #NS21 The launch was originally scheduled for Friday. Stay tuned for further updates.
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) May 18, 2022
It is not yet known how much the budget of this mission is and how much money Blue Origin has charged for tickets from each passenger. As the name NS-21 suggests, this will be New Shepard and Blue Origin’s 21st flight. The company has conducted four crewed missions so far. Three of these missions were launched last year and one mission this year.
By the way, Blue Origin isn’t the only company selling seats on suborbital flights. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic does the same. Although he has not yet operated any human flight. Just testing. The company plans to operate commercial crew flights as early as 2023.
Through ‘NS-21’ 6 people are to be sent from Blue Origin’s West Texas launch site on a short journey to suborbital space. These passengers also include Katya Acazarreta and Ivan Dick. He is the first New Shepard crew member to fly again. Earlier he had flown under NS-19 mission. This mission was launched on 11 December 2021.