To accomplish its aim of flying double missions in 2022, Jeff Bezos' space business Blue Origin will need to construct additional New Shepard rockets.
Last year, Blue Origin flew three crewed flights and one cargo research trip with their New Shepard rocket and capsule. According to CNBC, in 2022, the corporation will "easily increase" the number of missions.
New Shepard takes off from Blue Origin's own facility in the Texas desert and reaches a height of over 100 kilometers (or 340,000 feet), surpassing the US's 80-kilometer space barrier.
Blue Origin has two New Shepard rocket launchers in service, one for research cargo missions and the other for passenger trips.
Blue Origin to 'Double' Its 2022 Flights
Blue Origin's Chief Executive, Bob Smith, stated at the 24th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference (via Space News) that the company is trying to satisfy the demand for commercial space flights.
According to Blue Origin, the space market is "very robust." On the other hand, the space firm is experiencing a supply bottleneck. Smith said that no business ever wants to be supply-limited when there's robust demand.
As a result, the Bezos-led space business is on its way to increasing the number of space trips it will do this year.
In the same piece, Space News reported that Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle only flew 14 passengers to space during its first year of operation.
The Blue Origin rocket's initial launch featured just four passengers, comparable to its second journey to space. On the other hand, its third and final launch, scheduled for 2021, carried a total of six people.
According to Space.com, the Blue Origin New Shepard's maximum passenger capacity is only six. As a result, the amount of people it can launch into space on its December mission has already been reached.
CNBC also mentioned that Blue Origin will "easily double" the number of people flying to space in 2022.
To that end, Smith claims that Blue Origin is now working on building additional spacecraft ready to "safely go fly" shortly.
Smith went on to say that the new spacecraft that SpaceX plans to launch this year would help the company increase its space travel this year.
Blue Origin's approach to the market differs significantly from that of Virgin Galactic, the other main suborbital space tourism business, which offered tickets at predetermined pricing. Virgin began selling tickets to the general public on February 16 for $450,000.
The business claimed it sold roughly 100 seats in November after resuming ticket sales in August 2021 to people who had paid a $1,000 deposit to join its "One Small Step" program.
Blue Origin's 2021 Space Flights
Blue Origin had three crewed spaceflights last year, Business Insider said. Bezos, his brother Mark, a Dutch youngster named Oliver Daemen, and 82-year-old pilot Wally Funk launched 99 kilometers above Earth in July.
"Star Trek" star William Shatner, veteran NASA engineer Chris Boshuizen, healthcare entrepreneur Glen de Vries, and Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers all traveled with Blue Origin in October.
In December, a New Shepard rocket transported six people to the edge of space. These passengers include Michael Strahan, co-host of "Good Morning America," and Laura Shepard Churchley, the oldest daughter of US astronaut Alan Shepard, from whom Blue Origin's rockets take their name.
Virgin Galactic, a rival to Blue Origin, has its own long backlog. According to corporate records from last summer, the Richard Branson-owned company had secured seats for up to $250,000 for about 600 people from 58 nations.
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