Tech Titans by Carla Killough McClafferty

Author:Carla Killough McClafferty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2012-10-31T04:00:00+00:00

Alan Shepard on the moon.

The team is working to develop systems that will ultimately be used in New Shepard. The first test craft, Goddard, was ready to launch on November 13, 2006. Friends and family of the Blue Origin staff gathered to watch. Goddard looked like a giant gumdrop with legs that went straight up and staight down during its successful flight. Blue Origin plans to build and launch additional test vehicles during this research and development phase.

In the last few years, NASA began working with independent companies to promote space exploration. In 2009 it was announced that five companies would receive funds from NASA. Blue Origin received $3.7 million to assist their development of space transportation systems that could be used in the future. In 2011, NASA announced that Blue Origin would receive another $22 million.

Work at Blue Origin continues. On May 6, 2011, another test flight was successful. But on August 24, 2011, an unmanned test flight crashed. Although it was a set-back for Blue Origin, they are already working on the next development vehicle. When the project is finished, New Shepard will have a crew capsule (CC) where the astronauts and paying customers and equipment will ride. It will also have a propulsion module (PM). From the west Texas launch site, New Shepard will take off straight up, accelerate for about two and a half minutes, then shut off the rocket engines and coast into space. It will reach the suborbital level where travelers can see Earth’s atmosphere and experience zero gravity for a few brief moments. After the CC and PM separate, each piece will land back on Earth separately—to be used again.

New Shepard will take people to the edge of space and safely bring them down again. Jeff Bezos can’t wait to take the trip himself. Even though his thoughts are often filled with his boyhood dream of space travel, Bezos has his feet firmly planted on the ground. On May 30, 2010, he was the commencement speaker at Princeton University. Bezos shared with them the story of the day when he was ten, when his smoking statistic made his grandmother cry. He told them about the lesson his grandfather taught him that day. Speaking to some of the world’s brightest young minds, Bezos reminded the graduates that “Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice.”

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