![](https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/20231219_NS24_liftoff.jpg)
Updated 3:11 p.m. EST:
Blue Origin appears to be back within the suborbital business. Under a mostly sunny west Texas sky, the corporate launched its Recent Shepard suborbital rocket at roughly 10:42 a.m. CST (1642 UTC). This marked the twenty fourth flight of a Recent Shepard rocket.
The launch was an enormous deal for Jeff Bezos’ company because it marked the primary time in about 15 months that they were capable of launch their vehicle. Through the Sept. 12, 2022 launch of the NS-23 mission, the engine nozzle suffered a structural failure, forcing the mission to finish prematurely.
The previously failed mission wasn’t mentioned at any point either throughout the launch broadcast or in Blue Origin’s social media posts in regards to the NS-24 mission.
Onboard the capsule that flew on Tuesday were 33 science payloads and 38,000 postcards for Blue Origin’s non-profit, Club for the Future, which inspires young people to take up STEM careers.
Through the launch broadcast, Erika Wagner, Blue Origin’s Senior Director of Emerging Market Development, said that this was the ninth flight of the booster. These booster are designed to fly as much as 25 missions.
“I believe one of the crucial vital things that’s been happening on this latest era of recent rocketry is that we’ve learned easy methods to launch, land and repeat,” Wagner said. “We’ve been capable of take these boosters and to fly them over and another time.”
![](https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/20231219_NS24_booster_landing.jpg)
The booster separated from the capsule around two minutes and 40 seconds into flight, at which point, the capsule began to experience microgravity for a couple of minutes. The capsule reached an apogee of 107 km MSL.
Wagner noted that several of the experiments that were flying as payloads involved elements of fluid mechanics.
Considered one of the payloads that was highlighted was a prototype of the EagleCam CubeSat. The first version of the spacecraft, created by faculty and students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, will probably be hosted onboard Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander, which is ready to launch to the Moon no sooner than Jan. 12.
After landing on the Moon, Nova-C will function an influence and data hub for all payloads. Every IM-1 payload is designed to stay attached to the lander, aside from @EmbryRiddle EagleCam which will probably be ejected before landing so as to capture the descent from a 3rd… pic.twitter.com/bBQ0kXUyfa
— Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines) September 8, 2023
“A special thanks to all of our customers who flew vital science today and the scholars who contributed postcards to advance our way forward for living and dealing in space for the good thing about Earth,” said Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President for the Recent Shepard program in an announcement. “Demand for Recent Shepard flights continues to grow and we’re looking forward to increasing our flight cadence in 2024.”
Lower than 7.5 minutes into flight, the booster touched down the desert. That was followed by capsule touchdown just over 10 minutes into the mission. The overall mission timeline was 10 minutes and 13 seconds.
![](https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/20231219_NS24_capsule_landing.jpg)
What comes next?
Blue Origin didn’t mention future flights of Recent Shepard with specificity but Wagner’s did say near the top of the coverage: “Following a radical review of today’s mission, we look ahead to flying our next crewed flight soon.”
She didn’t state if there can be one other uncrewed mission before the corporate starts flying paying customers again.
Within the meantime, Blue Origin can be gearing up for its first launch of its orbital class rocket, Recent Glenn, which can liftoff from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
No specific launch date has been announced, but the corporate stated recently that they expect it to make its debut in 2024 after years of delays.