BLUE ORIGIN LAUNCHES WITH STUDENTS’ ARTWORK ON BOARD
Image: Club for the Future
Oct 15, 2020 – Blue Origin’s 7th launch for this New Shepard rocket carried very important cargo. The capsule carried science experiments, including 1.2 million tomato seeds that will be distributed to schoolchildren around the U.S. and Canada, and tens of thousands of children’s postcards with space-themed drawings that will be returned to the young senders.
Blue Origin is testing new lunar-landing technology for NASA that could help put astronauts back on the moon and launching these test flights from Texas, but the artwork comes from all over the country. NASA’s navigation equipment for future moon landings was located on the booster. Part of NASA’s Artemis program, the flight — skimming space at an altitude of 66 miles (106 kilometers) — was a success, with the booster landing vertically back at the launch complex after liftoff, and the capsule following, parachuting to the desert floor.
“Using New Shepard to simulate landing on the Moon is an exciting precursor to what the Artemis program will bring to America,” Blue Origin’s chief executive Bob Smith said in a statement.
With six seats and six windows, the intent is for New Shepard to take tourists and scientists as well as astronauts on short hops to space.
Blue Origin is leading a team of companies to develop a lunar lander for astronauts. SpaceX is also working on a lander, as is Alabama-based Dynetics. NASA chose three teams in this early phase of the Artemis moon-landing program to increase the chances of getting astronauts to the lunar surface by the end of 2024.
New Shepard is named for the first American in space, Alan Shepard. It’s first flight was in 2015.
The postcards were created by Blue Origin’s nonprofit, Club for the Future, some of which include a NASA Artemis stamp. Learn more at: https://www.clubforfuture.org/