Company Official Hints At Multiple New Shepard Flight Tests In The Next Two Years

Blue Origin, which has largely kept development of its rockets out of the media, has allowed a peek behind the curtain at the company's future plans.

The company recently posted a photo on Twitter of an engine bell for its methane-fueled BE-4 rocket engine (pictured), which the company says is "on track" to support the first flight of ULAs Vulcan rocket in 2019.

Meanwhile, Geekwire reports that Blue Origin’s director of business development and strategy Brett Alexander recently attended an FAA conference in Washington D.C. on commercial spaceflight. Alexander said during the conference that a "couple of dozen" test flights of the New Shepard booster over the next "couple of years." He also said that the company's long-term goal is to move from sub-orbital to orbital launches, with the booster being recovered.

Blue Origin's schedule calls for unmanned suborbital flights to begin later this year, with the first three payload customers being Purdue University, the University of Central Florida and Louisiana State University.

(Image from Blue Origin Twitter feed)

FMI: www.blueorigin.com