Kent’s Blue Origin is targeting New Shepard’s next launch for this Thursday, May 2, 2019, with liftoff scheduled for 6:30 a.m. PDT.
The mission, named NS-11, will take 38 payloads above the Kármán line into space.
The New Shepard rocket was built right here in Kent at Blue Origin’s headquarters at 21218 76th Ave S.
Watch the live vide feed here:
https://www.blueorigin.com
Some of the payloads flying on this mission include:
-
- Orbital Medicine – Orbital Medicine, a small business focused on aerospace medicine, comes to us through funding from NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program. On NS-11, Marsh Cuttino, MD, will demonstrate an experimental medical technology designed to treat a collapsed lung in zero gravity (which is a gravity-dependent procedure). Thanks to a previous flight on New Shepard, Dr. Cuttino has been able to evolve the technology and this flight will prove a near-final version that could one day save lives in space.
- New Century Technology High School – A group of students from Huntsville, AL have designed an experiment to test temperature fluctuations in microgravity. The students were excited to get hands-on experience for a project they’ll be able to launch to space and worked with NASA engineers to perfect their design. By lowering launch costs, more and more students will have the chance to design, build and send technology to space.
- MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative – The Space Exploration Initiative is built on the spirit of the MIT Media Lab, uniting artists, engineers, scientists, and designers. As the first MIT flight with New Shepard, the Space Exploration Initiative is flying several scientific payloads, as well as two projects that use zero gravity as a medium for works of art. Telepresent Drawings in Space uses graphite to create a drawing that could only have been made in space. Living Distance: A Spider-Inspired Robotic Dance in Weightlessness demonstrates a crystalline robotic device that navigates zero gravity, similar to a performance. Other payloads include TESSERAE: Self Assembling Space Architecture, Floral Cosmonauts: Crystal Electro-Nucleation and Queen Bee Maiden Flight.
You can watch the launch live with our webcast on www.blueorigin.com starting 20 minutes before liftoff, or at around 6:10 a.m.
Follow @BlueOrigin on Twitter for launch updates.
“Gradatim Ferociter!” says Team Blue.
