33 Science Payloads Spacebound on December 18th

New Shepard’s 24th mission is on track for launch on Monday, December 18th at 08:30 CST/ 14:30 UTC.

The West Texas launch site will be home to a stream featuring the takeoff, showing a fully-laden New Shepard take to the skies to rack up its scientific payload count. Once in flight, it will have brought more than 150 projects into space, with the narrow majority of them being sourced from NASA programs. The rest are a mix, some from K-12 schools, colleges, and STEM groups.

Blue Origin remains proud of their oxygen-hydrogen fuel system, particularly its efficient burn and singular byproduct - safe, standard water. The program's dry mass is reusable too, with 99% recycled after each mission. The Booster, capsule, engine, landing gear, and even parachutes can continue to serve after a single mission, offering cost and materials savings. Ideally, those improvements will result in a higher mission tempo, too.

No word on what the roster of experiments is for mission 24, or whether or not the Sheperd will be hauling up thousands of postcards from the company’s nonprofit, Club for the Future. The Postcards to Space program has been continually popular in the company, offering students a chance to own a piece of genuine space material after their postcards are taken up on a launch and sent back to them. Thanks to the cards’ lightweight makeup, Blue Origin can take up tens of thousands whenever space and payload allows.

FMI: www.blueorigin.com