Blue Origin's New Shepard Rocket Capsule Spin Up: Simulating Lunar Gravity

Blue Origin's New Shepard Rocket Capsule Spin Up: Simulating Lunar Gravity

Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp: "New Shepard's reaction control system put a new spin on lunar gravity. Here is a cool (albeit dizzying) video of booster and capsule separation showing spin up. We achieved our target of 0.16g, creating a Lunar-G environment for our payloads that lasted continuously for 140 seconds. During this time, the capsule completed approximately 26 rotations at 11 RPM."

Blue Origin successfully completed its 29th New Shepard flight and 14th payload mission on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, from Launch Site One in West Texas. The payloads experienced roughly two minutes of lunar gravity forces. The New Shepard crew capsule used its reaction control system to spin up to approximately 11 revolutions per minute, simulating one-sixth Earth gravity at the midpoint of the crew capsule lockers.

The flight carried 30 payloads from NASA, research institutions, and commercial companies, bringing the number of payloads flown on New Shepard to more than 175. 

Key mission statistics

Official Launch Time: 10:00:00 AM CST / 16:00:00 UTC 

Booster Apogee: 341,700 ft AGL / 345,347 ft MSL (104 km AGL / 105 km MSL) 

Crew Capsule Apogee: 341,944 ft AGL / 345,591 ft MSL (104 km AGL / 105 km MSL) 

Crew Capsule Landing Time: 10:10:06 AM CST / 16:10:06 UTC 

Mission Elapsed Time: 10 minutes, 6 seconds 

Video Credit: Blue Origin
Duration: 45 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 6, 2025

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