Blue Origin
Updated: 5/24/2026, 7:24:52 PM Wikipedia source
Blue Origin Enterprises, L . is a private American space technology company headquartered in Kent, Washington. The company operates the suborbital New Shepard rocket and the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. In addition to producing engines for its own rockets, Blue Origin supplies engines for other vehicles, including United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur. It is also working on the Blue Moon human lunar lander for NASA's Artemis program, the Blue Ring spacecraft platform, and the Orbital Reef space station in partnership with other organizations. Founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin initially operated with a very low profile, funded by Bezos's private investments. In 2015, the company achieved a significant milestone with the first uncrewed launch and landing of the New Shepard and announced plans for New Glenn. In 2021, New Shepard completed its first crewed mission with Bezos himself on board, crossing the Kármán line, the conventional definition of the edge of space, 100 kilometers (62 mi) above sea level. Another key achievement came in January 2023 when the company delivered its first BE-4 rocket engine to United Launch Alliance. Despite these milestones, Blue Origin has faced criticism for its perceived slow progress, particularly when compared to SpaceX. Addressing these challenges, the company underwent a leadership change in September 2023, appointing Dave Limp as CEO to succeed Bob Smith. On January 16, 2025, Blue Origin reached orbit with the first launch of the New Glenn vehicle. On April 14, 2025, Blue Origin completed its 11th human spaceflight and its 31st spaceflight for the New Shepard Program with an all-female crew of six. In January 2026, the company decided to pause tourism launches of its New Shepard rocket for two years or more, in order to focus resources on lunar landing efforts of the Artemis program.
Infobox
Tables
| Flight No. | Date | Vehicle | Apogee | Outcome | Notes |
| 1 | March 5, 2005 | Charon | 315 ft (0 mi) | Success | Test Flight |
| 2 | November 13, 2006 | Goddard | 279 ft (0 mi) | Success | First rocket-powered test flight |
| 3 | March 22, 2007 | Goddard ♺ | N/A | Success | Test Flight |
| 4 | April 19, 2007 | Goddard ♺ | N/A | Success | Test Flight |
| 5 | May 6, 2011 | PM2 (Propulsion Module) | N/A | Success | Test Flight |
| 6 | August 24, 2011 | PM2 (Propulsion Module) ♺ | N/A | Failure | Test Flight |
| 7 | October 19, 2012 | New Shepard capsule | N/A | Success | Pad escape test flight |
| 8 | April 29, 2015 | New Shepard 1 | 307,000 ft (58 mi) | Partial success | Flight to altitude 93 km, capsule recovered, booster crashed on landing |
| 9 | November 23, 2015 | New Shepard 2 | 329,839 ft (62 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing |
| 10 | January 22, 2016 | New Shepard 2 ♺ | 333,582 ft (63 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster |
| 11 | April 2, 2016 | New Shepard 2 ♺ | 339,178 ft (64 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster |
| 12 | June 19, 2016 | New Shepard 2 ♺ | 331,501 ft (63 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster: The fourth launch and landing of the same rocket. The company published a live webcast of the takeoff and landing. |
| 13 | October 5, 2016 | New Shepard 2 ♺ | Booster: 307,458 ft (58 mi) Capsule: 23,269 ft (4 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster. Successful test of the in-flight abort system. The fifth and final launch and landing of the same rocket (NS2). |
| 14 | December 12, 2017 | New Shepard 3 | Booster: 322,032 ft (61 mi) Capsule: 322,405 ft (61 mi) | Success | Flight to just under 100 km and landing. The first launch of NS3 and a new Crew Capsule 2 . |
| 15 | April 29, 2018 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 351,000 ft (66 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster. |
| 16 | July 18, 2018 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 389,846 ft (74 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster, with the Crew Capsule 2 –1 RSS H , carrying a mannequin. Successful test of the in-flight abort system at high altitude. Flight duration was 11 minutes. |
| 17 | January 23, 2019 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 351,000 ft (66 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital flight, delayed from December 18, 2018. Eight NASA research and technology payloads were flown. |
| 18 | May 2, 2019 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 346,000 ft (65 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital flight. Max Ascent Velocity: 2,217 mph (3,568 km/h), duration: 10 minutes, 10 seconds. Payload: 38 microgravity research payloads (nine sponsored by NASA). |
| 19 | December 11, 2019 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 343,000 ft (64 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital flight, Payload: Multiple commercial, research (8 sponsored by NASA) and educational payloads, including postcards from Club for the Future. |
| 20 | October 13, 2020 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 346,000 ft (65 mi) | Success | 7th flight of the same capsule/booster. Onboard 12 payloads include Space Lab Technologies, Southwest Research Institute, postcards and seeds for Club for the Future, and multiple payloads for NASA including SPLICE to test future lunar landing technologies in support of the Artemis program |
| 21 | January 14, 2021 | New Shepard 4 | 350,858 ft (66 mi) | Success | Uncrewed qualification flight for NS4 rocket and "RSS First Step" capsule and maiden flight for NS4. |
| 22 | April 14, 2021 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 348,753 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-15. 2nd flight of NS4 with Astronaut Rehearsal. Gary Lai, Susan Knapp, Clay Mowry, and Audrey Powers, all Blue Origin personnel, are "stand-in astronauts". Lai and Powers briefly get in. |
| 23 | July 20, 2021 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 351,210 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-16. First crewed flight. Crew: Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen. |
| 24 | August 26, 2021 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 347,434 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-17. Payload mission consisting of 18 commercial payloads inside the crew capsule, a NASA lunar landing technology demonstration installed on the exterior of the booster and an art installation installed on the exterior of the crew capsule. |
| 25 | October 13, 2021 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 341,434 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-18. Second crewed flight. Crew: Audrey Powers, Chris Boshuizen, Glen de Vries, and William Shatner. |
| 26 | December 11, 2021 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 351,050 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-19. Third crewed flight. Crew: Laura Shepard Churchley, Michael Strahan, Dylan Taylor, Evan Dick, Lane Bess, and Cameron Bess. |
| 27 | March 31, 2022 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 351,050 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-20. Fourth crewed flight. Crew: Marty Allen, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Jim Kitchen, George Nield, and Gary Lai. |
| 28 | June 4, 2022 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 351,050 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-21. Fifth crewed flight. Crew: Evan Dick, Katya Echazarreta, Hamish Harding, Victor Correa Hespanha, Jaison Robinson, and Victor Vescovo. |
| 29 | August 4, 2022 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 351,050 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-22. Sixth crewed flight. Crew: Coby Cotton, Mário Ferreira, Vanessa O'Brien, Clint Kelly III, Sara Sabry, and Steve Young. |
| 30 | September 12, 2022 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 37,402 ft (7 mi) | Failure | NS-23. Uncrewed flight with commercial payloads onboard. A booster failure triggered the launch escape system during flight, and the capsule landed successfully. The Blue Origin incident investigation found that a thermal-structural failure occurred on the BE-3 nozzle leading to the launch failure. |
| 31 | December 19, 2023 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 107 km (66 mi) | Success | NS-24. Successful return to flight mission following failure of NS-23 more than a year prior. 33 payloads and 38,000 Club for the Future postcards from students around the world. |
| 32 | 19 May 2024 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | c. 106 km | Success | NS-25. Seventh crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: Kenneth Hess, Sylvain Chiron, Mason Angel, Ed Dwight, Carol Schaller, Gopi Thotakura |
| 33 | 29 August 2024 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | Capsule 105 km (65 mi) | Success | NS-26. Eighth crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: Ephraim Rabin, Nicolina Elrick, Eugene Grin, Rob Ferl, Karsen Kitchen, Eiman Jahangir |
| 34 | 23 October 2024 | New Shepard 5 | Capsule 101 km (63 mi) | Success | NS-27. First flight of Propulsion Module NS5 and capsule RSS Kármán Line. 12 payloads and tens of thousands of Club for the Future postcards. |
| 35 | 22 November 2024 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | Capsule 105 km (65 mi) | Success | NS-28. Ninth crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: Emily Calandrelli, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Austin Litteral, James (J .) Russell, Henry (Hank) Wolfond |
| 36 | 4 February 2025 | New Shepard 5 ♺ | Capsule 105 km (65 mi) | Success | NS-29. Cargo flight carrying thirty payloads, provided by institutions such as Purdue University, Honeybee Robotics, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Glenn Research Center. The capsule rotated at 11 RPM, simulating lunar gravity. |
| 37 | 25 February 2025 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | Capsule 107 km (66 mi) | Success | NS-30. Tenth crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: Lane Bess, Jesús Calleja, Tushar Shah, Richard Scott, Elaine Hyde, Russell Wilson. |
| 38 | 14 April 2025 | New Shepard 5 ♺ | Capsule 107 km (66 mi) | Success | NS-31. Eleventh crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen, Gayle King, Katy Perry, Kerianne Flynn, and Lauren Sánchez. First all-female crewed spaceflight since Vostok 6 |
| 39 | 31 May 2025 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | Capsule 104 km (65 mi) | Success | NS-32. Twelfth crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: Aymette Medina Jorge, Gretchen Green, Jaime Alemán, Jesse Williams, Mark Rocket, Paul Jeris. |
| 40 | 29 June 2025 | New Shepard 5 ♺ | Capsule 106 km (66 mi) | Success | NS-33. Thirteenth crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: Allie Kuehner, Carl Kuehner, Leland Larson, Freddie Rescigno, Jr., Owolabi Salis, James (Jim) Sitkin. |
| 41 | 3 August 2025 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | Capsule 105 km (65 mi) | Success | NS-34. Fourteenth crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: Arvinder (Arvi) Singh Bahal, Gökhan Erdem, Deborah Martorell, Lionel Pitchford, James (J .) Russell, Justin Sun. |
| 42 | 18 September 2025 | New Shepard 5 ♺ | Capsule 105 km (65 mi) | Success | NS-35. Cargo flight carrying over forty payloads from NASA, commercial companies, and research institutions such as the University of Florida, Carthage College, Teledyne, and the NASA TechRise Student Challenge. 12th and final mission for the RSS H . Wells Crew Capsule. |
| 43 | 8 October 2025 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | Capsule 107 km (66 mi) | Success | NS-36. Fifteenth crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: Jeff Elgin, Danna Karagussova, Clint Kelly III, Aaron Charles Newman, Vitalii Ostrovsky, William H. Lewis. |
| 44 | 20 December 2025 | New Shepard 5 ♺ | Capsule 106 km (66 mi) | Success | NS-37. Sixteenth crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: Michaela Benthaus, Joey Hyde, Hans Koenigsmann, Neal Milch, Adonis Pouroulis, Jason Stansell. |
| 45 | 21 January 2026 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | Capsule TBD, Approx. 107 km (66 mi) | Success | NS-38. Seventeenth crewed New Shepard Flight. Crew of six included: Laura Stiles, Tim Drexler, Linda Edwards, Alain Fernandez, Alberto Gutiérrez, and Jim Hendren. |