KENT, Wash. – Blue Origin successfully completed a System Requirements Review (SRR) of its orbital Space Vehicle on May 15-16. Blue Origin is maturing the design of the Space Vehicle in partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the agency’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program.
The Space Vehicle will carry astronauts to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station (ISS). The innovative ‘biconic’ design is oriented vertically for launch and horizontally for reentry, affording the launch simplicity of a capsule coupled with the reentry advantages of a lifting body. This gives astronauts a larger accessible landing area from any single reentry point, which means more frequent opportunities to conduct an emergency return from the ISS and land safely in the United States, while lowering G-forces the astronauts experience on reentry.
“The biconic shape improves on traditional designs, showing continued spaceflight innovation,” said Rob Meyerson, president and program manager of Blue Origin. “Successful completion of the System Requirements Review paves the way to finalize our Space Vehicle design. Coupled with our reusable orbital launch vehicle, we are helping NASA meet its needs for sending astronauts safely and reliably to the ISS, while lowering the cost of human spaceflight and increasing the number of people who can fly into space.”
The review assessed the Space Vehicle’s ability to meet safety and mission requirements, and evaluated the technical readiness of the design, the concept of operations, the feasibility of project development plans, and planned verification activities. The review also included results from recently completed wind tunnel tests of the biconic shape, validating the vehicle’s aerodynamic design, stability and cross-range. Representatives from Blue Origin, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration participated in the review, which was conducted at Blue Origin’s design and development facility in Kent, Wash.
“Through a series of technical interchange meetings and data reviews, our work with NASA has allowed us to leverage the technology development and lessons learned from more than 50 years of human spaceflight,” Meyerson said. “We look forward to continuing development of our biconic Space Vehicle for both NASA and commercial purposes.”
About Blue Origin
Blue Origin, LLC (Blue Origin) is a private company developing vehicles and technologies to enable commercial human space transportation. The company has a long-term vision of greatly increasing the number of people that fly into space through low-cost, highly reliable commercial space transportation. For more information and a list of job openings, please visit us at www.blueorigin.com.
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