Blue Origin announces a two-year pause on its space tourism operations to prioritize development of human lunar landing systems for NASA’s Artemis program. This decision halts all New Shepard suborbital flights, which have provided brief weightless experiences for passengers at the edge of space.
Shift to NASA’s Artemis Missions
The company joins SpaceX in NASA’s efforts to create human landing systems for the Artemis program. Blue Origin focuses on landers for the Artemis III and Artemis V missions. Initially contracted for the Artemis V lander, which will transport astronauts from NASA’s Gateway station to the moon’s South Pole, Blue Origin now designs an alternative for Artemis III following delays in SpaceX’s Starship testing.
Artemis III marks the program’s first crewed lunar landing. U.S. officials aim to achieve this milestone before the current presidential term concludes.
New Shepard’s Tourism Legacy
New Shepard rockets carry tourists to suborbital space, crossing the Karman line for a few minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth. Founder Jeff Bezos flew on the inaugural tourist mission in 2021. Since then, the vehicle has completed 37 additional flights, transporting 98 passengers, including celebrities like Katy Perry and William Shatner.
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