This morning at 10:05am EST, Blue Origin's suborbital New Shepard rocket launched from West Texas after being delayed last month due to a ground system issue. The capsule reached an apogee of 350,000ft and both the booster and the capsule safely landed back on Earth.
New Shepard flew 8 onboard payloads on this mission.
The Modal Propellant Gauging experiment to see how to measure fuel levels in microgravity by using sound waves.
The Vibration Isolation Platform, which will be used to test separating the payload from the vibrations caused by the rocket during launch.
The EM Field Experiment, observe and collect data on natural occurring electromagnetic fields on the inside and outside of New Shepard.
The Flow Boiling in Microgap Coolers experiment, which will test cooling electronics onboard spacecraft that are tightly packed.
The Zero-G Green Propellant experiment, which will help advance the safer use of rocket propellant as well as making it environmentally friendly.
The Collisions into Dust Experiment, which will try to understand how dust reacts to surface contact during exploration missions on different planetary bodies.
The Collection of Regolith Experiment, which will study the unique challenges of collecting and analyzing material samples in microgravity.
The University of Florida have a payload that will enable more biological research on suborbital missions.
Blue Origin also has their fourth booster (named "Tail 4") in their hangar, or "Barn" as they call it, which will carry humans into space later this year. Their third booster (Tail 3), the one that launched today, was only designed to carry payloads and this next booster is designed for human spaceflight. This year should be an exciting year for Blue Origin as they launch their first customers up to experience zero-g and view the Earth from the edge of the atmosphere.
Their New Glenn rocket is also set to launch for the first time NET 2021. New Glenn will be able to lift and will be 100m tall, 7m diameter, and twice the fairing capability than anything on the market. It will also have duel launch capability as well as carry many small satellites for a constellation. New Glenn will be able to launch up to 45 metric tons into Low Earth Orbit and up to 13 metric tons into Geostationary Orbit.