NS-15
New Shepard
Blue Origin
Crew
Mannequin Skywalker
- Role: Anthropomorphic Test Device
- Nationality: Earthling
- First Flight: 12/12/2017
- Last Flight: 04/14/2021
“Mannequin Skywalker” is a test dummy flown on Blue Origin New Shepard 3’s initial flight test.
Mission
NS-15
- Type: Suborbital
- Orbit: Suborbital
Fifteenth flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.
During the mission, astronaut operational exercises will be conducted in preparation for human space flight. The primary operations will entail Blue Origin personnel standing in as astronauts entering into the capsule prior to launch. These astronauts will climb the launch tower, get into their seats, buckle their harnesses, and conduct a communications check from their seat with CAPCOM, the Capsule Communicator. The tower operations team will prepare the capsule cabin for launch and then briefly close the capsule hatch. The astronauts will then exit the capsule prior to launch.
Post-landing, the astronauts will get inside the capsule to rehearse hatch opening, and exiting the capsule at the landing site.
Inside the capsule during the flight will be Mannequin Skywalker, along with more than 25,000 postcards on behalf of Club for the Future, Blue Origin’s nonprofit organization
Location
Rocket
Landing
Core NS-4
Booster NS-4 last launched 08/29/2024 and has seen 11 successful launches and landings. New Shepard vehicle #4 is the fourth flight vehicle of the New Shepard suborbital rocket. It was used for Blue Origin’s first crewed launches.
Corn Ranch Landing Pad, West Texas – CR
New Shepard landing site.
Return to Launch Site – RTLS
A return to launch site usually means that after stage separation the booster flips and does a burn back towards the launch site, landing near where it initially launched from.
Agency
Blue Origin
Blue Origin is an American privately funded aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services company set up by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos with its headquarters in Kent, Washington. The company is developing technologies to enable private human access to space with the goal to dramatically lower costs and increase reliability. Blue Origin currently launches its New Shepard sub-orbital vehicle from its West Texas launch site, they are currently constructing a launch pad for their orbital vehicle New Glenn at Cape Canaveral LC-36.