New Shepard Spacecraft

Source-This post on New Shepard Spacecraft has been created based on the article “Meet New Shepard: Blue Origin’s spacecraft set to take Indians to space” published in “India Today” on 1 July 2024.

Why in the news?

Jeff Bezos-led Blue Origin has partnered with the Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA) to provide common Indian citizens with the opportunity to travel into space aboard the New Shepard spacecraft.

About New Shepard Spacecraft

1. The New Shepard is a suborbital space travel vehicle designed for both scientific research and space tourism. It is named after Alan Shepard who was the first American in space.

2. It features a fully reusable rocket system intended for human spaceflight, consisting of a reusable booster and a pressurized crew capsule that can accommodate six passengers.

3. Each passenger is provided with a window seat to enjoy breathtaking views of Earth through the largest windows ever flown in space.

4. The spacecraft’s 11-minute journey takes passengers beyond the Karman line, where they experience several minutes of weightlessness before making a controlled descent back to Earth aided by parachutes.

About the Karman Line

1. The Karman line is an imaginary boundary located at 100 km (62 miles) above sea level, demarcating the Earth’s atmosphere from space.

2. It was established in the 1960s by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) and named after aerospace pioneer Theodore von Kármán.

3. This line is recognized by most countries and space organizations as the official boundary between Earth’s sky and space.

4. However, some organizations, including the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, and the U.S. military, place the boundary at 80 km (50 miles) above the Earth’s surface.

5. At altitudes above the Karman line, the air is too thin for a propulsion system that relies on lift generated by Earth’s atmosphere, necessitating alternative propulsion methods for spacecraft.

UPSC Syllabus: Science and technology