Blue Origin Launched NS-33 Crew To Suborbital Space

Space.com

A  New Shepard rocket launched the NS-33 mission from Blue Origin's West Texas site.  NS-3 crew: Allie and Carl Kuehner, a husband and wife who are both into conservation and exploration; philanthropist and beekeeper Leland Larson; entrepreneur Freddie Rescigno, Jr.; lawyer and author Owolabi Salis; and retired attorney Jim Sitkin.  Credit: Blue Origin

Transcript

00:0010, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, command to start, 2, 1, 0

00:10And New Shepard has cleared the tower, beautiful shot

00:36But NS33, we are on our way

00:42Now you can note on the left hand side of your screen, if you want to follow along, you can

00:48You can note the speed, the altitude, and all of the major milestones coming up here in just a moment

00:56At this point, BE3 is at 100% power level, we are gaining speed and altitude very quickly

01:06Now despite the cloud cover, we are tracking New Shepard

01:14Great shot from the rocket looking back down at West Texas

01:21Mach 1 vehicle is supersonic

01:23We've just passed 30,000 feet and we are supersonic

01:28Engine back up to full throttle

01:30We just passed Max Q, you heard it there

01:35Engine is back up to full throttle, we are on our way to space

01:39Yeah, the astronauts here are experiencing about 3 Gs

01:45Passing 50,000 feet

01:47We are just over a minute and a half into flight

01:49Beautiful shot

01:55Beautiful shot

02:10So you are going to notice we are going to stay on this picture

02:12This is again the camera that is on New Shepard

02:15And that is because our cameras on the ground can't quite pierce all the way through the cloud cover

02:19That we are experiencing out in West Texas

02:21But again, you can follow along with New Shepard's journey if you take a look at our telemetry

02:26Which is on the left hand side of your screen

02:28We are about to experience and see MECO

02:39Oh, I just heard

02:41MECO confirmed

02:42Main engine cutoff has been confirmed

02:53Separation confirmed

02:55Separation is confirmed

02:58That is amazing

02:59Now you can see on your left hand side

03:01We've got two bar charts now

03:03We've got the left hand side

03:04Which is the tracking the booster

03:07And the right hand side is now tracking the capsule

03:10That's right, our astronauts are experiencing about 0 Gs here

03:14Not about, they are experiencing 0 Gs

03:16A moment they have been waiting for

03:18For quite a long time

03:20Exacerbated by about a week

03:22But they are finally headed across that Carmen line

03:25They are

03:26And as you'll know

03:27The booster does have a rotation to it

03:30We intentionally spin the booster and the capsule during flight

03:34So the astronauts can get a 360 view

03:37They get to go around a couple times

03:40It's slow and steady

03:41But they get the full view of everything out their window

03:44That's so great

03:46And these windows, by the way

03:48Bigger than a 737

03:50Much bigger

03:51Yeah

03:52By like a lot

03:53And we have officially passed the Carmen line

03:58We're still ascending the booster and the capsule

04:01And they reach Apogee at about the exact same time

04:04That is correct

04:05Yep

04:06Yes, they do

04:07We'll see that here in just a moment

04:09Capsule Apogee

04:20And there it is

04:21Apogee

04:22For both the booster and the capsule

04:25They are now both returning to Earth

04:28And what will happen is the booster is going to return first

04:32About two miles from where we launched on the launch pad

04:35And it's going to return faster because it's so much more aerodynamic

04:38That's right

04:39Yep

04:40The capsule will reenter a little bit slower

04:42Four minutes 30 seconds into flight

04:43But that is perfect timing to watch both the booster and the capsule land

04:47Yeah, we're just over four minutes and 30 seconds into flight

04:51Again, this is our camera from our booster looking back down on west Texas

04:56Booster descending past 325,000 feet

04:59Yep, the booster has descended past 325,000 feet

05:03Our best camera at this moment in time because of that cloud cover out west

05:07Capsule body rates looking good

05:16The astronauts still enjoying that zero-g

05:19They're getting their views out the window

05:21Taking photos

05:23Posing

05:24Maybe doing some zero-g flips

05:26Who knows?

05:27I certainly would

05:28Yeah

05:29I also have to say this view to me is very calming

05:30Astronauts getting buckled back in shortly

05:35Yeah, but a great shot there from our booster

05:47I just got word in my ear that we don't have any audio of our astronauts at this moment in time

05:56But we have heard they're having a great time up there as I certainly would be

06:01Booster forge and deploy

06:03No kidding

06:09The booster descending past 150,000 feet

06:13The booster just opening some of its control surfaces to help it navigate back down

06:22Those all work in tandem

06:25Yeah, the ring fin, the wedge fins, the aft fins at the base

06:29Astronauts experiencing maximum ascent Gs

06:32Those Gs the astronauts are feeling are pushing them into their seat as they hit that thick atmosphere coming back into Earth

06:40They feel about 5 Gs for just a moment and then it settles back to 1 G very quickly

06:47So they should be cool and comfortable right about now

06:50Yeah

06:51About to go back into the cloud line for our booster

06:57I'm loving this shot from the booster

07:00There we go

07:01Now you can see the desert and the landing pad

07:04Yeah, that's a great shot of it

07:06Here we go

07:10Our long range camera's abled

07:12And there's the sonic boom

07:14To capture the booster on its descent

07:17Engine relight

07:19Engine relight

07:24Engine relight

07:32Landing

07:33Booster descent

07:37Booster descent nominal

07:40And touchdown

07:42We have a beautiful touchdown of the New Shepard booster

07:45Welcome home NS33 booster

07:47Welcome home New Shepard booster

07:48It's great to see you there on the landing pad

07:50That is right

07:51And thank you for providing by the way such a great shot of the entire flight

07:56It is great

07:57It almost looks like it's dead on center too

08:00Yeah

08:01Hit the target

08:03Now we will stand by to take a look at the capsule here in just a minute

08:07But as we wait, the booster is going through its auto-safing process

08:13Which happens immediately upon landing

08:15Now that is to get the booster ready for our ground crew to come and pick her up in a little bit

08:22And take her back home

08:23Standby drogas

08:24And

08:25As we see the capsule has come through the clouds in a moment

08:29Oh my goodness

08:30What a shot

08:31A great shot

08:32Yeah

08:33We should be seeing the drogas here shortly

08:34There they are

08:35And

08:36The parachutes just after that

08:40Now the capsule is descending of course lower than the booster because of its shape

08:44That like teardrop shape and there go the parachutes

08:48Essential in providing that gentle touchdown for the capsule

08:53And it also has a retro thrust system at the base of the capsule

08:57Something you'll want to watch out for which will make that final touchdown even smoother

09:03Beautiful, beautiful reefed parachutes here

09:07What a gorgeous sight to see

09:10Blue skies all of a sudden

09:11I know

09:12Incredible

09:13The weather changes so drastically in Texas

09:15Amazing, amazing shot here of the capsule

09:17As it descends smoothly back down to Earth

09:20You know Alice, we have a saying in Texas

09:22If you don't like the weather, just wait an hour

09:29And in this moment our astronauts are soaking up those final moments with their crew

09:33Before they're back here on Earth

09:35And right now that capsule is slowing down to just a couple of miles per hour

09:45TDS enabled

09:46Yeah, those parachutes take all the energy out

09:48We're at 17 miles an hour and then we'll go down to one, two with the retro thrust system

09:55Look at that, beautiful landing site for the capsule

09:58Oh yeah

09:59Looks like it's going to be close to one of the roads

10:03Which is nice, easy to get out there

10:05There's a great shot actually of our crew recovery system

10:08Yeah, they're on their way

10:10They're looking at the parachutes

10:13That's cool you can see that from inside

10:15What a cool shot of the booster and the capsule in one shot

10:19That really just shows you how, you know, New Shepard is so reusable

10:24And, you know, just an incredible vehicle

10:26And touchdown

10:28Touchdown

10:29Touchdown

10:30Touchdown

10:31Confirmed

10:32Congratulations

10:33Welcome home New Shepard 33

10:34Solstice 33

10:35What an incredible flight today

10:37Yes, that is so great to see

10:40We should be getting a great drone shot there

10:43There it is on the edge of the screen

10:45We can hear a little bit of our astronauts

10:48Copy that, actually

10:49I'm going to listen in for a second

10:51We can hear a little bit of our astronauts

10:52Copy that, actually

10:53I'm going to listen in for a second

10:54We can hear a little bit of our astronauts

10:55Copy that, actually

10:56We can hear a little bit of our astronauts

10:57Copy that, actually

10:58I'm going to listen in for a second

10:59We can hear a little bit of our astronauts

11:00Copy that, actually

11:01I'm going to listen in for a second

11:02We can hear a little bit of our astronauts

11:03Copy that, actually

11:04We can hear a little bit of our astronauts

11:05We can hear a little bit of our astronauts

11:06We can hear a little bit of our astronauts

11:07We can hear a little bit of our astronauts

11:08We can hear a little bit of our astronauts

11:09We can hear a little bit of our astronauts

11:10We can hear a little bit of our astronauts

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