SpaceShipTwo Hasn’t Reached the Karman Line, Says Bezos
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos made headlines by stating that the company’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle can reach altitudes higher than those of competitor Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo
It is still unclear when the New Shepard will be ready to take passengers to space. “This is the first time that I’ve ever been saying ‘this year,’” Bezos said. “For a few years I’ve been saying ‘next year.’” However, New Shepard has been undergoing uncrewed test flights, including the most recent one on January 23.
The tests have been successful, including those of the escape system for the crew capsule. “We’ve tested all the envelope for escape. It’s one of the most complicated things that we’ve done,” Bezos explained.
In the meantime, Virgin Galactic is doing tests of its own — the most recent suborbital spaceplane test is scheduled for February 22.
Bezos pointed out that the two vehicles reach different altitudes: while the New Shepard exceeds an altitude of 100 kilometers — known as the Karman Line, SpaceShipTwo reached a peak altitude of only 82.7 kilometers during its most recent test flight on December 13.
“One of the issues that Virgin Galactic will have to address, eventually, is that they are not flying above the Karman Line, not yet,” Bezos said. “I think one of the things they will have to figure out how to get above the Karman Line. We’ve always had as our mission that we wanted to fly above the Karman Line, because we didn’t want there to be any asterisks next to your name about whether you’re an astronaut or not.”
He added that those who fly on the New Shepard will have “no asterisks” next to their names.
Bezos claims that the schedule is not the primary driver for the development of the spaceplane. “I do keep reminding the team — I’m relentless on this — that it’s not a race,” he said. “I want to fly this year with humans, but we will fly when we’re ready.” However, with both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin so close in schedule to send the first passengers to space, it does indeed seem to be a toe-to-toe battle.
Picture credit: Virgin Galactic
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