The Embarrassing Truth Behind Blue Origin's New Shepard launches Six Lost Years Revealed
"The Embarrassing Truth Behind Blue Origin's New Shepard launches. Six Lost Years Revealed!
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#techmap #techmaps #elonmusk #starshipspacex
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A testbed 0:00
But, it turns out to be a detour 2:48
A slow, bureaucratic mindset 8:29
Conclusion 11:08
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1) SOURCES OF THUMBNAIL:
2) SOURCES OF VIDEO AND IMAGES:
Interstellar Gateway - IGW
https://www.youtube.com/@InterstellarGateway/featured
https://x.com/interstellargw
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The Embarrassing Truth Behind Blue Origin's New Shepard launches. Six Lost Years Revealed!
You may know the name Hans Koenigsmann, the “safety wizard” who spent 20 years at SpaceX making Falcon 9 and Dragon safe for astronauts. Thanks to his work, over 60 people have flown to space on Dragon.
But here’s the twist—Hans never got to ride the spacecraft he helped build. His first trip beyond the Kármán line came in 2025, four years after retiring from SpaceX, and not aboard Dragon but Blue Origin’s New Shepard.
Why switch teams? It’s simple. Flying on a suborbital New Shepard is far easier than qualifying for an orbital Dragon mission. Even Hans didn’t meet Dragon’s tough astronaut standards—ironically, for the spacecraft he helped perfect.
The Embarrassing Truth Behind Blue Origin's New Shepard launches. Six Lost Years Revealed!
This small story actually tells us something bigger about Blue Origin. It reveals part of the reason why the company seems to be developing more slowly than SpaceX. For many in the space industry, starting with a suborbital rocket like New Shepard was seen as a strategic mistake—a detour rather than a shortcut.
But Blue Origin’s ambitions were never limited to short hops. Like SpaceX, its long-term goal is bold: to enable millions of people to live and work in space. And New Shepard was just the first small step toward that vision.
Originally, the BE-3PM engine that powers New Shepard wasn’t meant for space tourism. It was designed for a much larger vehicle—one that could reach orbit. That early plan called for five BE-3PM engines on the first stage, plus another version, the BE-3, on the upper stage. Back then, Blue Origin was still part of Nasa’s commercial crew development program.
So in that context, learning how to land New Shepard’s booster was valuable practice for developing a fully orbital rocket. In fact, the BE-3 engine used on New Shepard was upgraded to the BE-3U version for New Glenn’s upper stage.
The Embarrassing Truth Behind Blue Origin's New Shepard launches. Six Lost Years Revealed!
The BE-3 engine itself is a powerful hydrolox design, producing 490 kilonewtons of thrust—more than the early Merlin engines used by SpaceX. It’s not the most practical choice for suborbital tourism, since hydrogen fuel is expensive and tricky to handle. But if you think of it as a stepping stone for a future orbital rocket, the decision makes perfect sense.
Even New Shepard’s capsule, with its life support system, feels overbuilt for short flights. But that complexity was intentional—it provided hands-on experience for the orbital missions."