Overview
- Blue Origin said flights of its suborbital New Shepard vehicle are halted for not less than two years to prioritize human lunar capabilities.
- Resources are being shifted to the Blue Moon lander and New Glenn, with development supported by a NASA contract worth about $3.6 billion.
- The first Mark 1 Blue Moon lander is undergoing thermal-vacuum testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and it will not fly on the next New Glenn launch targeted for late February.
- New Shepard has flown 38 times since 2015, carrying 98 people and more than 200 research payloads, including its NS-38 passenger flight on January 22.
- Blue Origin cited a multi-year customer backlog, employees told Reuters the pause felt like a cancellation, and NASA officials are pressing both lander providers to accelerate toward an Artemis III landing goal by 2028.