The American company Blue Origin has announced its intention to launch the New Shepard spacecraft soon, resuming launch operations that had been halted for over a year. The company stated in a message on its X social media page: "We plan to have the next launch window for the New Shepard on December 18 of this year, carrying 33 payloads dedicated to research and scientific work."
Blue Origin had previously launched a New Shepard vehicle on a reusable rocket on September 12, 2022, which carried some scientific equipment intended for a suborbital altitude. However, just minutes after takeoff, technical issues were detected, and experts decided to separate the vehicle from the rocket ahead of schedule, successfully returning the vehicle to Earth using parachutes. The spacecraft was carrying some scientific equipment belonging to NASA and private companies.
In September of this year, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it had completed investigations related to the mentioned incident and ordered Blue Origin to make more than 20 improvements to the design of the New Shepard vehicles.
Blue Origin was founded in 2000 by Amazon owner Jeff Bezos and produces spacecraft and rockets capable of carrying large payloads, as well as working in the production of space rocket engines.
