Welcome to version 8.28 of Rocket Report! The big news in rocket science this week was that NASA still hasn’t solved the problem of hydrogen leakage on the Space Launch System. The problem caused a delay of several months ahead of the first SLS launch in 2022, and the fuel leak resurfaced during fuel testing on NASA’s second SLS rocket on Monday. It’s a persistent problem, and NASA’s sparse SLS launch rate makes every countdown an experiment, as my colleague Eric Berger wrote this week. NASA will conduct another fuel test in the coming weeks after troubleshooting the rocket’s leaking fuel line, but the launch of the Artemis II mission is off until March.
As always, we welcome reader submissions. If you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small, medium and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look at the next three launches on the calendar.
Blue Origin “pauses” New Shepard flights. Blue Origin has “paused” its New Shepard program for the next two years, Ars reports, a move that potentially signals the permanent end of the suborbital space tourism initiative. The small rocket and capsule have been flying since April 2015 and have together performed 38 launches, all but one of which were successful, and 36 landings. Over its existence, the New Shepard program sent 98 people into space, albeit for short periods of time, and launched more than 200 scientific and research payloads into microgravity environments.
moon first…So why is Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos more than a quarter-century ago, ending the company’s longest-running program? “We will redirect our people and resources to further accelerate our human lunar capabilities, including at New Glenn,” company Chief Executive Dave Limp wrote in an internal email on Jan. 30. “We have an extraordinary opportunity to be part of our nation’s goal of returning to the Moon and establishing a permanent, sustained lunar presence.” The cancellation generally came as a surprise to Blue Origin employees. The company flew its most recent mission a week before the announcement, sending six people into space.
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