Photos: Blue Origin's New Shepard mission to space

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Former Amazon ceo Jeff Bezos is scheduled to blast off the Earth toward space at 9 a.m. ET (6 a.m. Pacific) on Tuesday (July 20). Bezos and three other crew members will ride aboard Blue Origin’s reusable suborbital rocket, New Shepard. This is the 16th launch of New Shepard, which has room for six astronauts and is designed to bring its crew more than 62 miles (100 kilometers) high — touching the edge of space. Here’s a look at New Shepard and what it’s been up to lately.

Spacious seating

(Image credit: Blue Origin)

The seats in Blue Origin's crew capsule, which sits atop the suborbital rocket New Shepard, are designed to flex and absorb g-forces in the event of an off-nominal, or unexpected, landing.

g-forces

(Image credit: Blue Origin)

The seats in Blue Origin's crew capsule, which sits atop the suborbital rocket New Shepard, are designed to flex and absorb g-forces in the event of an off-nominal, or unexpected, landing.

Remote lift-off

New Shepard's 15th launch (called mission NS-15) lifted off from Launch Site One in West Texas on April 14, 2021.

(Image credit: Blue Origin)

The suborbital rocket takes off in Shepard's 15th launch (called mission NS-15). The reusable rocket lifted off from Launch Site One in West Texas on April 14, 2021.

New shepard booster

(Image credit: Blue Origin)

The New Shepard booster is shown here as it landed after New Shepard's successful mission to space, the 15th launch of the vehicle that took place on April 14, 2021.

Back on the launchpad

(Image credit: Blue Origin)

The New Shepard booster on the landing pad after Mission NS-15's success on April 14, 2021. A rocket booster works in concert with the main engines to escape the pull of Earth's gravity.

Capsule descent

(Image credit: Blue Origin)

The parachutes on the New Shepard crew capsule deployed for descent, providing a soft landing in the Texas desert on April 14, 2021.

Nailed landing

(Image credit: Blue Origin)

Another image showing the New Shepard crew capsule landing at a remote site in the West Texas desert after a successful mission to space on April 14, 2021.

Space mannequin

(Image credit: Blue Origin)

On Jan. 14, 2021, the mannequin called Skywalker flew aboard the New Shepard Mission NS-14 crew capsule, which is outfitted with six seats.

Originally published on Live Science.

Jeanna Bryner
Managing editor, Scientific American

Jeanna Bryner is managing editor of Scientific American. Previously she was editor in chief of Live Science and, prior to that, an editor at Scholastic's Science World magazine. Bryner has an English degree from Salisbury University, a master's degree in biogeochemistry and environmental sciences from the University of Maryland and a graduate science journalism degree from New York University. She has worked as a biologist in Florida, where she monitored wetlands and did field surveys for endangered species, including the gorgeous Florida Scrub Jay. She also received an ocean sciences journalism fellowship from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She is a firm believer that science is for everyone and that just about everything can be viewed through the lens of science.