New Shepard’s 35th Mission Targeting Liftoff on August 23

Blue Origin’s next New Shepard mission will be a big one, taking more than 40 payloads to space and bringing the rocket’s total to over 200. As of now, NS-35 is set to blast off from Launch Site One on Saturday, August 23.

The previous mission, NS-34, successfully delivered six ‘astronauts’ to and from space on August 3. This brought the program’s total to 75 people, with its passengers ranging from crypto billionaires to world-famous pop stars.

The upcoming mission, tentatively targeting 7:30 am CDT on August 23, will be the first uncrewed launch since NS-29 in February. It will carry the largest payload manifest in the program’s history, with the current record being set nearly two years ago with NS-24’s 33 payloads and 38,000 postcards.

New Shepard’s 35th mission is slated to carry 40 or more payloads and bring the rocket’s total to over 200. Its manifest is dominated by NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge, which takes up more than half the roster, featuring student experiments in space farming, medical solutions, and the behavior of liquids in microgravity. The rest of the payloads come from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Oklahoma State University, University of Florida, Carthage College, University of Central Florida, Teledyne, Space Lab Technologies, Teachers in Space, and others.

Interestingly enough, one of the research experiments comes from a previous Blue Origin ‘astronaut’. Rob Ferl took the trip to space on NS-26 and is now working with Anna-Lisa Paul and the University of Florida to adapt ISS-based technology for suborbital use. Their experiment, dubbed Biological Imaging in Support of Suborbital Science (BISS), is funded by NASA’s Flight Opportunities and Biological and Physical Sciences programs.

Another highlighted payload is Teledyne’s EDR Fuel Cell. The company, in partnership with NASA’s Glenn Research Center, is putting more than a decade of fuel cell technology research to the test in hopes of serving long-term lunar and Martian habitation efforts.

FMI: www.blueorigin.com