Blue Origin set to launch 23rd orbital mission, fourth of this year; here's how to watch

The Jeff Bezos-owned space tourism company Blue Origin will launch its fourth orbital mission of 2022 and 23rd overall mission on September 12. According to the company, the New Shepard booster will liftoff from West Texas when the launch window opens at 7 pm IST. Notably, unlike the previous three of this year, the New Shepard 23 (NS-23) will be uncrewed and will carry 36 experimental payloads along with tens of thousands of postcards from Blue Origin’s nonprofit, Club for the Future.

In a latest update, the company revealed that the New Shepard booster is at the launch pad and is undergoing nominal checks ahead of its flight. 

Where to watch the launch?

You can watch the launch live on Blue Origin’s official YouTube channel or the company’s website. The webcast of the launch will start twenty minutes before the booster takes off at 7 pm. Prior to this, the mission was initially scheduled for launch on August 29 but was postponed twice due to bad weather conditions around the launch site in West Texas. 

About the NS-23 mission

The NS-23 mission would be Blue Origin’s first dedicated payload flight since NS-17 in August 2021 and the first uncrewed mission of the year.  In 2022, Blue Origin has launched three successful crewed missions which saw the first Egyptian (Sara Sabry) and first Portuguese (Mario Ferreira) astronauts launch into space during NS-22.

Before the previous mission, the NS-21 was also historic in itself as it saw the launch of the first Mexican-born astronaut in Katya Echazarreta to space. 

As for the technical front, the New Shepard spacecraft will carry 36 scientific payloads to orbit, which would demonstrate the operational capability of hydrogen fuel cell technology in microgravity, study the strength of planetary soils in microgravity, study the effects of gravity on ultrasonic sound waves and find ways to manufacture cleaner propellants in microgravity among various other tasks. 

Out of the total, two of these payloads will be fitted outside of the spacecraft for proper exposure to the space environment. Notably, 18 experiments out of 36 have been funded by NASA whereas others have been designed by school children, universities, and STEM-focused organizations.