Reuters is reporting that Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which jointly operate United Launch Alliance (ULA), are in talks to sell their rocket business to Sierra Space, a subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corp., an increasingly influential defense contractor that recently landed a $13 billion deal to build the federal government’s new Survivable Airborne Operations System based on five used Boeing 747-8s.

• READ MORE: NASA Sets Tentative End-of-Month Deadline on Starliner Decision

The talks about the rocket business are in their early stages, and ULA has previously tried to unload it without success.

The company competes with SpaceX to launch government payloads into orbit. Reuters said the company should bring in between $2 billion-$3 billion and could fit Sierra Nevada’s plan to bring its Dream Chaser spaceplane to market and service the space station it’s planning to build in partnership with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

• READ MORE: NASA Investigation Finds Boeing Hindering Americans’ Return to Moon

Meanwhile, NASA officials say they continue to consider options to return two test pilot astronauts to Earth after an extended stay, but it seems unlikely Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will be going back on the Boeing Starliner crew capsule.

A decision on whether to use the problematic capsule must be made by the end of August.

• READ MORE: NASA: Starliner Astronauts May Not Return Until February

NASA officials told reporters last week that it’s considering a variety of alternative plans to get them home, including leaving them on the International Space Station for another six months as substitute members of a new four-member crew that will launch to the ISS for a six-month tour in September. Instead of bringing four astronauts, the SpaceX rocket would have two crew on board who would return with Williams and Wilmore after their tour is complete.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

The post Boeing, Lockheed Martin Consider Selling Space Launch Business appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Each nation is allotted one seat on an upcoming Blue Origin flight, and applicants can secure a slot for just $2.50.

“India has achieved remarkable milestones in its space journey the past few years, including becoming the first country to reach the moon’s southern pole,” said Joshua Skurla, co-founder of SERA, of the program’s newest partner nation.

The U.S. and India last month strengthened their collaboration on human spaceflight and space security. NASA is also training an Indian astronaut for a trip to the International Space Station as early as this year.

SERA works with countries that have had few or no citizens reach the final frontier. In April, it purchased six seats on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket that will fly citizen astronauts to the Kármán line, which at 100 kilometers is considered the boundary between Earth and space.

Formerly known as the Crypto Space Agency and funded by NFTs, the program played a role in Blue Origin’s fifth crewed spaceflight, NS-21, awarding a seat to Brazilian civil engineer Victor Hespanha, that country’s second astronaut, through a raffle.

According to SERA, more than 8 in 10 astronauts come from just three countries: the United States, Russia, and China. In June, it partnered with Nigeria’s National Space Research and Development Agency to send that country’s first citizen to space.

“Our mission is to democratize space by enabling citizens from over 150 countries with limited access to space to participate in ground-breaking research and create history,” said Skurla. “Our aim is to empower people globally to have a voice and stake in the future of space exploration.”

In an unprecedented move, SERA will allow people around the world to vote on which citizens will take the approximately 11-minute journey.

Anyone living in one of the program’s partner nations can apply to secure a seat. Applicants must be proficient in English, at least 18 years of age, and meet Blue Origin’s parameters for height, weight, physical fitness, and citizenship.

Five of the seats will be allocated to specific nations, and candidates will be voted on by citizens of those nations. The sixth will be open to anyone within a SERA-partnered country and chosen through a global vote. Remaining seat assignments will be announced later this year.

During the second quarter of 2024, voters will choose from 24 final candidates. After that, they will design and vote on the experiments the astronauts will perform during the flight. Later this year, a prelaunch docuseries will reveal the winning experiments.

Following three days of training at Blue Origin’s launch site in West Texas, the civilian crew will strap themselves into New Shepard sometime after the third quarter. The company’s next mission, NS-26, does not yet have an expected launch date.

“By giving communities the power to choose their astronauts, we ensure this mission is driven by people, for people,” said Sam Hutchison, who co-founded SERA alongside Skurla. “This approach will ignite national conversations on space and foster international collaboration in space exploration.”

Hutchison previously served as president of Boeing-backed Reaction Engines, which designs rocket engines intended for hypersonic flight.

SERA says its upcoming mission will be the first of several flights in partnership with Blue Origin. The company’s New Shepard rocket in December made a return to action following a grounding and FAA investigation into a September 2022 incident and in May launched another mission—its first crewed flight in nearly two years.

The spacecraft so far has performed as expected, which should give SERA confidence in being able to send more civilians to space in the near future.

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Last week, Blue Origin filed a public comment to the FAA requesting that the regulator limit the number of launches of SpaceX’s Starship—the largest and most powerful rocket ever built—out of Launch Complex-39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which currently hosts the company’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

The FAA in May released a SpaceX proposal for high-frequency Starship operations at Kennedy, including the construction of infrastructure that would allow Musk’s firm to complete 44 launches per year.

The filing is the latest wrinkle in the multiyear feud between Musk and Bezos, who have exchanged taunts and legal actions as they battle for supremacy in the commercial spaceflight industry. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin have obtained contracts from U.S. government agencies such as NASA and the Pentagon and intend to make cosmic tourism a piece of their business.

“Sue Origin,” Musk bantered on social media platform X, which he acquired in 2022.

In a subsequent post, the SpaceX boss added, “An obviously disingenuous response. Not cool of them to try (for the third time) to impede SpaceX’s progress by lawfare.”

The public comment filed by Blue Origin has no legal bearing, but the FAA will consider it as it determines what restrictions to place on Starship at Kennedy.

SpaceX is seeking a commercial launch vehicle operator license for Starship operations at Launch Complex 39-A, which will require the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS). The EIS describes the potential effects of those operations on the surrounding environment and was required for SpaceX to begin the Starship orbital test flight program, for example. SpaceX will prepare the assessment itself under FAA supervision.

During Starship’s maiden voyage, which ended in a ball of flames a few minutes into the mission, the impact from the launch caused unexpected damage as far as 6 miles away from the Starbase launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas. The force of Starship broke windows, sent ashy debris into the sky, and brought an FAA investigation into SpaceX’s environmental mitigations, grounding the rocket for months. Five environmental groups sued the FAA over its handling of the mission.

Since then, SpaceX has made several improvements to Starbase to contain Starship’s debris field, and subsequent missions have resulted in little fanfare. However, it appears Blue Origin will use the incident as leverage in its plea to the FAA.

“At Starbase, Starship and Super Heavy test missions have been subject to environmental scrutiny due to their impact on the local environment and community,” the public comment reads, citing the aforementioned lawsuit against the regulator as evidence.

Blue Origin too launches operations out of Kennedy. The company leases Space Launch Complex-36 and occupies several hangars, as well as a manufacturing site, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), which it says are close to the area SpaceX wants to use.

“Blue Origin employs over 2,700 full-time employees in [Florida’s] Brevard County, including 449 employees at CCSFS that are directly impacted by local launch activities,” the filing reads. “Blue Origin has invested more than $1 billion in capital expenditures to develop [Launch Complex-36] as the first privately built heavy-lift launch complex in the world.”

The company said it worries about the safety of property and personnel during a Starship launch anomaly, such as an explosion, fire, debris, or loud noise. It also argued that Starship operations could impede Blue Origin’s access to shared infrastructure and “limited airspace and maritime resources.”

Starship and the Super Heavy booster hold about 5,200 metric tons of liquid methane for propulsion—the force of which, Blue Origin claims, would impede company and government activities at Kennedy due to the anticipated requirement of a safety margin around the site.

The firm urged the FAA to place a cap on the number of Starship launches, specify and limit launch times, and invest in infrastructure that would make Kennedy and CCSFS safer and more accessible for other launch providers.

It also suggested that SpaceX and the government be required to compensate Blue Origin or other companies whose commercial activities are impacted by Starship, as well as mandatory penalties for SpaceX should it violate the EIS or its license.

Given Bezos’ history with Musk, it’s difficult to say whether genuine concern, a desire to hamper the competition, or both prompted the comment.

Blue Origin is developing an alternative to Starship, New Glenn, but the rocket has faced delays and has yet to fly. New Glenn has collected a handful of customers, including Amazon’s Project Kuiper and NASA, which intends to launch it to Mars on its maiden voyage later this year.

NASA was at the center of the most publicized dispute between Blue Origin and SpaceX. After the space agency tapped SpaceX as the sole provider of a human landing system (HLS) for Artemis missions to the moon, Bezos in 2021 took NASA to court, arguing that it had promised two contracts.

The company would ultimately lose that battle. But the space agency in 2023 announced Blue Origin as the second Artemis HLS provider. Both companies are now working with NASA to develop a revamped plan for the Mars Sample Return Program, each receiving a $1.5 million contract.

The firms are also competing in the military sphere. In 2022, Blue Origin lost out on a pair of Pentagon contracts at the expense of SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. But earlier this month, it secured its own agreement with the U.S. Space Force for 30 military launches, worth up to $5.6 billion.

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The post Blue Origin Urges FAA to Cap SpaceX Launches at Kennedy appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, NASA officials announced that the Artemis II and Artemis III moon missions—planned for this year and next, respectively—will be pushed to September 2025 and September 2026. Artemis II is expected to put NASA astronauts in lunar orbit, while Artemis III aims to land them on the moon, where they would become the first humans to visit the lunar south pole.

The Artemis program is effectively the descendant of the Apollo missions, which concluded decades earlier. But unlike Apollo, it represents a shift toward leveraging private sector companies, such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, for key vehicle components.

Despite speculation that the Artemis lunar landing could be pushed to Artemis IV—which NASA affirmed is still on track for 2028—the space agency said no changes will be made to the flight plan of either mission, and no flights will be added. However, for a variety of reasons, many related to safety, both Artemis II and III will fly later than initially planned.

As Jim Free, associate administrator of NASA, put it: “We’ll launch when we’re ready.”

Safety First

Attending Tuesday’s press conference were Free, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Deputy Associate Administrator of the Moon to Mars program Amit Kshatriya, and Associate Administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Catherine Koerner. The four officials—plus representatives from NASA industry partners such as SpaceX and Lockheed Martin—fielded questions from media about why the missions were delayed.

According to NASA, several issues discovered during Artemis I, which carried the agency’s reusable Orion capsule around the moon in 2022, are causing delays to Artemis II. These center around the spacecraft’s heat shield, abort capabilities, and electrical systems and could pose threats its occupants.

Kshatriya said heat shield erosion during Artemis I caused pieces of the thermal cover to fly off—an outcome not predicted by NASA. The agency said it discovered the issue while rewatching the watershed flight and has spent “the bulk of 2023” working to understand its root cause.

Orion is also dealing with a design flaw in the motor valve circuitry for its life support system, which was tested and approved for Artemis II but not the subsequent mission. The spacecraft’s digital motor controllers are hampering its carbon dioxide scrubber, which absorbs the gas to provide breathable air for astronauts. Artemis I did not test any life support systems, but they will be added to Artemis II along with a new abort system.

Further, NASA found a deficiency in Orion’s batteries. The issue won’t hinder the spacecraft’s ability to separate from the booster in an emergency, but the agency said it could cause unexpected effects.

“We’re still very early in that investigation,” said Kshatriya.

The effort to replace and retest the faulty components will be tremendous, NASA said, but essential for Orion to fly on Artemis II and beyond. Nelson said the revised mission timeline will “give Artemis teams more time to work through the challenges.”

Even more work will need to be done for Artemis III, which NASA said will introduce several new components and systems: a human landing system (HLS), docking module, propellant transfer system, and spacesuits to name a few. Kshatriya said the timeline for that mission remains “very aggressive.”

Free said NASA expects the development of SpaceX’s Starship HLS and Axiom’s next-generation spacesuits will take additional time. The agency has also yet to solve the issue of propellant transfer, or in-flight refilling, which involves a spacecraft drawing fuel from another spacecraft or stationary outpost.

A SpaceX representative attending the media briefing estimated the company will need to complete ten refueling missions before Starship HLS lands on the moon, which the company hopes will happen in 2025. 

The representative added that SpaceX’s Starship—the largest and most powerful rocket ever built—is working toward a NASA tipping point demo to explore propellant transfer between tanks. The company does not consider this a propellant test mission, but the maneuver will be studied during Starship’s third orbital test flight, expected in February.

When asked, the representative did not provide a minimum number of Starship orbital test flights needed before a lunar landing. But the propellant transfer flight, whenever that happens, will be the one that matters most.

“We’ve been building the machine to build the machine,” the representative said.

Free added that development of NASA’s Gateway space station—which is expected to fly on a future Artemis mission—and the Block 1B variant of its Space Launch System (SLS) also necessitated delays. 

But NASA officials said the larger gaps between the missions will allow the agency to incorporate more lessons from previous flights into each increasingly complex Artemis project. SpaceX and Blue Origin, for example, will be required to develop cargo variants of their human lunar landers as part of their obligations for Artemis IV, NASA said Tuesday.

A Clearer Outlook?

When one questioner mentioned the space industry’s doubts about the new timeline—arising from previous Artemis delays—Free explained what makes NASA so confident.

He said the agency now has a better understanding of Orion and other Artemis vehicles. The bigger reassurance, however, is the industry’s support: Free said 11 industry and contractor partners attended Tuesday’s press conference, and all of them contributed to the revised mission schedule.

Kshatriya pointed to the SLS core stage delivery to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility as a sign of readiness, adding that the spacecraft’s booster segments are ready to stack and the upper stage is “ready to go.” Further, NASA’s European Space Agency (ESA) partners will ship a service model to the agency in a few months, he said.

Nelson, meanwhile, dispelled fears that China could beat the U.S. to a moon landing. He expressed confidence that the rival superpower would not reach the lunar surface before Artemis III. But with the delay, the two competitors’ schedules are undoubtedly more aligned.

Nelson also pointed to the agency’s recent progress, most notably a partnership with the United Arab Emirates to build the airlock for Gateway and the launch of Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions.

The NASA administrator emphasized that Artemis will only be the beginning of the new era of American spaceflight. The agency is also developing its Moon to Mars program, which Nelson said will rely on international partners to land an American on Mars. Reaching the moon, he said, will be the first step toward missions to the red planet in the future.

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The post NASA Delays First Crewed U.S. Moon Landing in Half a Century to 2026 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The unmanned cargo mission, dubbed NS-24, launched from the Blue Origin launch site near Van Horn, Texas, shortly before 11 a.m. CDT. On board its capsule were 33 payloads from NASA and research institutions, including 38,000 postcards from the company’s Postcards to Space nonprofit program.

The flight to the edge of space lasted 10 minutes and 13 seconds.

• READ MORE: Blue Origin’s New Shepard Rocket Set for Return to Action

The mission had been planned for Monday but was scrubbed due to a ground system issue.

“A special thank-you to all of our customers who flew important science [Tuesday] and the students who contributed postcards to advance our future of living and working in space for the benefit of Earth,” Phil Joyce, senior vice president of New Shepard, said in a statement following the flight. “Demand for New Shepard flights continues to grow, and we’re looking forward to increasing our flight cadence in 2024.”

In September 2022, a booster failure during the launch of the uncrewed NS-23 mission led to a mishap. While the crew capsule was not damaged, the incident prompted a yearlong FAA inquiry. Earlier this year, the company said the mishap was the result of a faulty engine nozzle.

Liftoff #NS24 pic.twitter.com/85wTik0CET

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) December 19, 2023

The post Blue Origin’s New Shepard Makes Unmanned Cargo Flight appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Blue Origin, the space tourism venture of billionaire ex-Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, announced on X, formerly Twitter, that the company’s New Shepard rocket could fly again as soon as Monday. New Shepard had been grounded by the FAA following the crash of an uncrewed escape capsule in September 2022.

The company said it’s targeting a launch window for its next New Shepard payload mission that will open December 18. The mission, NS-24, will carry cargo in the form of science and research materials and 38,000 Club for the Future postcards—a similar payload to NS-23, the mission that failed.

In a statement earlier this year, Blue Origin identified a faulty engine nozzle as the culprit of the September 2022 mishap. Both the company and the FAA reported no injuries or damage from the incident, which occurred just over one minute into the flight. Seconds later, New Shepard’s crew capsule escaped as designed.

It’s unclear whether the capsule’s retro thrust system—which is designed to enable a soft landing—fired as intended. But Blue Origin said the capsule and all payloads “landed safely” and that they would fly again on the next mission.

That flight was expected to take place a few weeks or months later. But an FAA mishap investigation—which is standard when a launch does not go as planned—kept New Shepard grounded for more than a year until it concluded in September. As part of that investigation, the regulator required Blue Origin to take several corrective actions.

Now, it appears the company is satisfied with the changes and ready to fly again. It will still need the FAA to sign off on its launch window. But that process can happen fast, as evidenced by the rapid turnaround achieved by SpaceX for the second test flight of its Starship rocket.

While Blue Origin has been tweaking and tinkering, its main rival, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, appears to have leapfrogged the company in its bid for space tourism supremacy. Virgin completed its first commercial spaceflight in June and has flown to the edge of the atmosphere every month since, carrying both cargo and passengers.

Still, Blue Origin has a head start. Bezos’ company made a handful of commercial spaceflights in 2021 and 2022, ferrying high-profile passengers like Star Trek icon William Shatner and NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan. So while the year-plus hiatus may have put it in the hole, Blue Origin remains one of the only companies to actually fly paying customers to space.

Meanwhile, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which was originally expected to debut in 2020, may have a shot at launching next year. The company has also been contracted for several NASA missions—including to the moon and Mars—and is developing the Orbital Reef commercial space station.

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The post Blue Origin’s New Shepard Rocket Set for Return to Action Next Week appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The recommendations, which are the first since 2014, cover the gamut across design, manufacturing, and operations, and are based on lessons learned during the NASA Commercial Crew program, as well as recent commercial space fights, the FAA said Friday.

• READ MORE: Blue Origin Flights to ‘Soon’ Resume After FAA Closes Investigation

“AST is issuing Version 2 of this document because significant progress has been made in the commercial human space flight industry since 2014, the year Version 1 was issued,” the FAA said in recommendations Friday. “SpaceX, via its Dragon capsule, is regularly conducting orbital flights to the International Space Station under contract with…(NASA’s) Commercial Crew program, as well as private orbital flights. Virgin Galactic has successfully taken people on a suborbital flight from Spaceport America [in New Mexico]. And Blue Origin is regularly launching passengers on suborbital flights from its site in West Texas.”

Among the recommendations included in the 102-page document is a call for system operators to enhance cybersecurity measures in order to prevent hacking of critical vehicle functions. Operators should  also develop and use voluntary consensus standards in support of human space flight occupant safety, the agency said.

“The use of consensus standards which have been developed and are found to conform to best practices can recognize time and financial savings,” the FAA noted.

• READ MORE: FAA Readies to Regulate Commercial Human Spaceflight Safety 

The recommendations are the latest from the safety agency, which last week proposed a rule aiming to limit new orbital debris during commercial space operations, aligning with those accepted by the U.S. government for its space missions. 

Earlier this summer, the FAA launched a rulemaking committee to examine the cost and development of possible future regulations related to occupant safety during commercial space flights. The 25-member committee includes representatives from the FAA and space industry, including Virgin Galactic, Boeing, SpaceX, and Blue Origin.

The post FAA Releases Updated Space Tourist Safety Recommendations appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Now for this week’s top story:

Blue Origin Appoints Amazon’s Dave Limp as New CEO

What happened? As rivals SpaceX and Virgin Galactic dominate the commercial spaceflight sector, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has been grounded. Its pace of progress has slowed from a run to a walk to a limp. But perhaps the best way to correct a limp is with a Limp—Dave Limp, senior vice president of Amazon devices and services, to be specific.

Tumultuous tenure: Bezos hired Limp as CEO in part because of his “sense of urgency,” which hints at the billionaire businessman’s aims. Under current chief executive Bob Smith, Blue Origin completed the highly publicized maiden voyage of its New Shepard spaceship, ferrying Bezos and Star Trek icon William Shatner to the edge of the atmosphere.

Since then, the company has stalled. It made a few more commercial flights before a September 2022 crash prompted the FAA to bring down the hammer, grounding New Shepard indefinitely. Smith has also missed out on lucrative NASA and DOD contracts, struggled to launch the New Glenn super-heavy rocket, and faced accusations of a toxic workplace.

Changing of the guard: Bezos is probably hoping Limp is the catalyst Blue Origin needs to right the ship, both figuratively and literally. At Amazon, he was involved with Project Kuiper, a planned competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, and led ambitious projects such as Alexa, Echo, and FireTV. He also held executive positions with a pair of now-defunct technology firms.

Limp is not an aerospace expert by any means. But Bezos clearly trusts his ability to turn ideas into reality (it’s an open secret that Alexa and Echo were pet projects of his), and do it quickly. He’s certainly an upgrade over Smith, at least according to current employees, one of whom gave the less-than-glowing assessment, “Anything is better than Bob.”

Quick quote: “I’ve worked closely with [Limp] for many years. He is the right leader at the right time for Blue. Dave is a proven innovator with a customer-first mindset and extensive experience leading and scaling large, complex organizations. Dave has an outstanding sense of urgency, brings energy to everything, and helps teams move very fast,” Bezos wrote in a note to Blue Origin employees obtained by CNBC.

My take: When this news came across my radar, one thing in particular caught my attention: Bezos’ repeated emphasis on speed.

Reading too deeply into the public comments of a CEO is a dangerous game, but it’s easy to see why Bezos might prioritize quickness. Since New Shepard was grounded, SpaceX has launched thousands of satellites and ferried astronauts to and from the International Space Station with NASA. Virgin Galactic has now completed space tourism trips in back-to-back-to-back months. United Launch Alliance has made a handful of launches, too.

All of these competitors have leapfrogged Blue Origin—at least for now. Limp’s likely prerogative as new boss will be getting one of the company’s programs (New Shepard, New Glenn, the Blue Moon lander, or the Orbital Reef space station) into orbit quickly. New Shepard, for which the FAA just closed its mishap investigation, seems to be a likely candidate.

Deep dive: Can Blue Origin Course Correct With Amazon’s Dave Limp at the Helm?

In Other News…

Boosters Delivered to Kennedy Space Center for Artemis II Mission

What happened? About one year from now, NASA will send four astronauts around the moon and back. Before then, though, it needs to build the spacecraft that will carry them. That process appears set to begin soon, after contractor Northrop Grumman delivered 10 booster motor segments to Kennedy Space Station

Back to the moon: Artemis III, tentatively planned for 2025, would mark humanity’s return to the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 more than half a century ago. Before that, Artemis II will serve as a litmus test—if it succeeds, the agency will move to the next step. The mission will be flown with the Space Launch System (SLS) super-heavy lift rocket and the Orion spacecraft.

Northrop provided segments for the SLS’s twin solid rocket boosters, which will generate 8.8 million pounds of thrust and help Orion reach 24,500 mph on its way to the moon. Now, the parts are being evaluated and are expected to be stacked in February. NASA also added four RS-25 engines to the rocket’s core stage last week. But concerns the project will fall behind schedule persist.

Deep dive: Booster Delivery Marks NASA Artemis II Moon Mission Milestone

VI&E Solutions, Ace VTOL Look to Add 700 Vertiports in Oceania

What happened? As more electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft designs hit the market, they’ll need a place to land. Enter Volatus Infrastructure and Energy Solutions (VI&E): The vertiport company partnered with eVTOL manufacturer Ace VTOL to build a network of 700 vertiports in Australia, New Zealand, and other countries in the region.

Global dominance? The vertiport industry will rely on the development of another industry, eVTOL aircraft, for scale. But when those wacky-looking aircraft finally hit the skies, VI&E is in position to capitalize. The company is planning four U.S. vertiport projects for 2024 and will look to add more through partnerships with regional aviation real estate developers.

Of greater consequence, perhaps, are the company’s plans beyond the U.S. It has agreements with eVTOL manufacturers, infrastructure developers, and regulatory authorities in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and more. Already, that gives it a global footprint, with which the likes of Ferrovial Vertiports, Groupe ADP, and other rivals will need to compete.

Deep Dive: VI&E Solutions, Ace VTOL Plan to Add 700 Vertiports in Oceania Region

And a Few More Headlines:

• NATO is set to adopt the U.K. Ministry of Defense’s SAPIENT protocol as a standard for counter-uncrewed aerial systems (C-UAS).

• VoltAero made what it says is the first flight of an electric aircraft running on 100 percent sustainable fuel…made from wine waste.

• In another milestone flight, Beta Technologies’ electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) aircraft crossed the border from New York to Montreal.

• The FAA announced a $300 million allocation for net-zero goal projects, such as sustainable aviation fuels infrastructure.

• The agency also proposed a rule to limit debris from commercial space vehicles.

Spotlight on…

Horizon Aircraft

[Courtesy: Horizon Aircraft]

Air taxi manufacturers Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, Lilium, and EHang share one core tenet: They will only build 100 percent electric aircraft. Horizon Aircraft raises an eyebrow in response.

Rather than go full-electric, the Canadian company built a hybrid eVTOL which relies on a gas-powered range extender that charges its batteries during flight. Like the firms above, Horizon plans to use it for regional air taxi routes, as well as for medical evacuation, critical supply delivery, and commercial cargo services.

The company’s aircraft may not achieve the same emissions reductions as its rivals. But the Cavorite X7, a newly announced model that will replace its flagship Cavorite X5 (pictured above), is expected to have a greater range, speed, and useful load than all of them. Plus, with seven seats, it projects as one of the highest occupancy eVTOL designs out there. Keep an eye on this one.

Deep Dive: Horizon Aircraft Announces Plans for 7-Seat Hybrid eVTOL Design

On the Horizon…

No one likes a government shutdown. But the one currently looming could be a real doozy for the FAA. That’s because Saturday marks the deadline for FAA reauthorization, and a funding bill has yet to pass both houses of Congress. In short, this could be a disaster.

Commercial and passenger airlines will still fly. But air traffic controllers, Transportation Security Administration personnel, and FAA staff will work without pay. What’s more, training for ATC learning the ropes will be put on hold, potentially exacerbating an existing shortage. Airport infrastructure investments, FAA rulemaking, and facility security inspections will all go on pause.

For our purposes, the shutdown would also prevent the passage of key incentives for the drone and advanced air mobility (AAM) industries, which are included in the House FAA reauthorization bill. These include provisions such as a timeline for a final beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone law and permanent rules for AAM operations.

The Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) proposal the FAA submitted in July is another piece of rulemaking that could be put on hold. Comments on that document will close October 23, less than a month from now (mark your calendars!). But the agency won’t be able to begin the process to address them through rulemaking until a shutdown ends.

Mark Your Calendars

Each week, I’ll be running through a list of upcoming industry events. DroneX 2023 wrapped up Wednesday in London, but here are a few conferences to keep an eye on:

• Airtaxi World Congress—October 2-5 in San Francisco
• UP.Summit—October 4-6 in Dallas 
• FAI World Drone Racing Championship—October 6-9 near Seoul, South Korea
• Intergeo 2023—October 10-12 in Berlin
• Dronitaly—October 11-13 in Bologna, Italy
• World’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Conference—November 12-14 in Jerusalem

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The post Can Dave Limp Correct Blue Origin’s Limping Pace? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

First reported by CNBC and confirmed by Blue Origin to FLYING, Smith will step down to be replaced by Amazon senior vice president of devices and services Dave Limp, who recently announced his own departure.

According to Blue Origin, the changing of the guard will happen on December 4, when Smith effectively retires from his role and Limp steps in. Smith will remain with the company until January 2 “to ensure a smooth transition.”

“[Limp] is a proven innovator with a customer-first mindset,” a company spokesperson told FLYING. “He has extensive experience in the high-tech industry and growing highly complex organizations.”

The spokesperson also touted Smith’s achievements, pointing to Blue Origin’s $10 billion in customer orders and 10,000-plus employees. However, a quick assessment of the company’s business development timeline and reports of a toxic workplace culture from the past few years paint a tumultuous picture of his tenure. Could Limp help Blue Origin course correct?

Who Is Dave Limp?

Bezos probably hopes Limp is the catalyst Blue Origin needs to supplant SpaceX and Virgin Galactic as the regent of modern space travel. But how will the Amazon veteran fit at his new company?

Limp has spent the past 13 years at marketplace behemoth, where he oversaw the development of several novel, high-tech products. Some—Amazon’s Kindle, Fire TV, and Ring doorbell, for example—were successes. Others, such as Alexa and Echo speakers, were…less so. He was involved with the company’s Zoox autonomous vehicle program and its Project Kuiper internet satellite business, a planned competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink, which gives him some aerospace experience. 

According to CNBC, he worked closely with Bezos when he was still CEO of Amazon and was trusted to launch some of the billionaire’s favorite projects, Alexa and Echo. The new Blue Origin boss was also part of Amazon’s “S-Team,” a small circle of senior executives across most of the company’s business verticals.

Before joining Amazon, Limp started his career with Apple and held executive positions with software firm Liberate Technologies and smartphone maker Palm, both of which are now defunct.

“I’ve worked closely with [Limp] for many years,” Bezos wrote in a note to Blue Origin employees obtained by CNBC. “He is the right leader at the right time for Blue. Dave is a proven innovator with a customer-first mindset and extensive experience leading and scaling large, complex organizations. Dave has an outstanding sense of urgency, brings energy to everything, and helps teams move very fast.”

Note Bezos’ emphasis on speed. With Smith at the helm, Blue Origin has seemingly fallen behind competitors SpaceX and Virgin Galactic in the modern day space race. Let’s break down where things went wrong—and how Limp could right the ship.

First, the Good

“I’m very excited about the operational excellence and culture of innovation this new leader will bring to Blue, building on the foundation we’ve created over the past few years,” Smith said of Limp’s hiring in a note to Blue Origin employees viewed by CNBC.

He concluded the message with “Gradatim Ferociter,” the company’s latin motto which translates to “step by step, furiously.” The first half of that slogan more accurately describes Smith’s tenure—but let’s start with the good.

Bezos appointed Smith as CEO of Blue Origin in 2017 in a bid to accelerate the development of programs such as the reusable New Shepard suborbital launcher and the New Glenn heavy-lift rocket.

Before that, he was with Honeywell Aerospace for 13 years, serving as vice president and chief technical officer before briefly leading the firm’s mechanical systems and components business. He headed development of components in verticals including air transport, business aviation, and defense and space.

Initially, he led the build-out of Blue Origin infrastructure across the U.S. in preparation for the first suborbital launch of New Shepard. That highly anticipated maiden voyage—which carried Bezos and Star Trek actor William Shatner to the Kármán line in 2021—put the company on the map and was arguably Smith’s greatest success.

“Under [Smith’s] leadership, Blue has grown to several billion dollars in sales orders, with a substantial backlog for our vehicles and engines,” Bezos added in his note. “Our team has increased from 850 people when Bob joined to more than 10,000 today. We’ve expanded from one office in Kent [Washington] to building a launch pad at LC-36 and 5 million square feet of facilities across seven states.”

Since then, New Shepard has completed a handful of commercial launches. But Blue Origin was swiftly hit with an FAA mishap investigation in September 2022 after a booster failure during a test of the rocket’s capsule escape mechanism caused it to crash. The spacecraft hasn’t flown since, and things have gone downhill from there.

Tumultuous Tenure

Smith has also struggled to launch New Glenn, which was expected to compete with SpaceX’s Starship for heavy-lift orbital contracts from NASA and other agencies. The launcher’s maiden voyage was pushed back from 2020 to late 2022 after delays in development.

In June, it faced another setback when one of the BE-4 engines designed to power it exploded just 10 seconds into a test. The mishap could create a ripple effect for United Launch Alliance, which will use BE-4s to power its Vulcan rocket—however, the company is reportedly confident it will launch on schedule.

Meanwhile, ULA and SpaceX, arguably Blue Origin’s two biggest rivals, secured a pair of Pentagon contracts at the firm’s expense. And there’s a chance the company is snubbed again for upcoming Space Force military missions in favor of those same competitors. CNBC in July reported that SpaceX and ULA are viewed as the front runners, but “there’s a door open” for Blue Origin to swoop in.

Earlier this year, the firm won a $3.4 billion NASA contract to develop its Blue Moon lander for the space agency’s Artemis V mission, which is scheduled to return humans to the moon before the end of the decade. But that was only a half-victory, considering it missed out on the initial award—which went solely to SpaceX. Blue Origin battled the decision in court but lost.

Another NASA contract calls for New Glenn to launch two Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) spacecraft to Mars in 2024. However, there is still no firm launch timeline for the rocket.

New Shepard, meanwhile, will reportedly be back in action next month. It will need to be tested before a potential return to crewed launches scheduled for mid-February, according to Eric Berger of Ars Technica.

Berger unearthed some telling details about how Blue Origin employees perceived Smith.

“Anything is better than Bob,” an anonymous current employee told him.

Berger said he spoke to “dozens” of current and former company employees and that “virtually none of them have had anything positive to say” about Smith’s time with Blue Origin. Last year, close to two dozen anonymous workers accused the departing CEO of fostering a toxic workplace culture characterized by fear, discomfort, and misogyny.

Smith has also come under fire for high turnover, though Blue Origin has since hired aggressively, growing from around 4,000 to 10,000 employees over the past two years.

The Outlook with Limp

Under Smith’s leadership, Blue Origin—once seen as arguably the most promising of a trio of billionaire-backed space tourism firms that also includes SpaceX and Virgin Galactic—has steadily fallen off.

SpaceX, meanwhile, has launched thousands of Starlink satellites and uses its Crew Dragon capsule to conduct International Space Station crew rotation missions for NASA. At the same time, the Elon Musk-led company is dealing with a mishap investigation of its own that has grounded its massive Starship suborbital launcher.

Virgin Galactic has capitalized on both firms’ mistakes. Since June, Richard Branson’s space tourism venture has completed monthly trips to the edge of the atmosphere, each with paying customers. With three commercial missions in the books, the next, Galactic 04, is scheduled for October 5.

All of this means Limp will have some catching up to do. Outside New Shepard, New Glenn, and Blue Moon, Blue Origin is also developing the Orbital Reef private space station, and Smith in July told the Financial Times he hoped to build an international launch site. All of these initiatives will be fighting for Limp’s attention.

Most likely, the new CEO will look to prioritize one piece of the company over the others in a bid to simply get back to orbit. It’s now been more than a year since Blue Origin launched a rocket—and Bezos’ emphasis on speed hints that a rapid return to space is a priority.

New Shepard is a potential suitor for Limp’s focus. The spacecraft is now one year removed from the incident that grounded it, and it could be ready to fly again as soon as next month. Jump-starting the company’s space tourism business could also generate revenue as it struggles to turn a profit on its expensive activities, much like its competitors. Ars Technica’s Berger speculates that Bezos is likely providing about $2 billion per year to keep the dream alive.

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These are a few of the superlatives for the crew aboard Galactic 02, the first space tourism flight for billionaire business mogul Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. The mission, the company’s seventh spaceflight overall and its fourth with humans on board, launched Thursday morning and carried three paying customers and a crew more than 50 miles to the edge of the cosmos.

Among the passengers are 80-year-old Brit Jon Goodwin and mother-daughter duo Keisha Schahaff and Anastasia Mayers from Antigua and Barbuda. Unlike Virgin Galactic’s Galactic 01 research mission, which took three Italian researchers to orbit to conduct zero-gravity experiments in June, Galactic 02 was the firm’s first private astronaut mission. In other words, it was just for fun.

At around 10:45 a.m. EDT, the company’s VSS Unity spaceship, strapped beneath mothership VMS Eve, took off from the runway at Spaceport America in New Mexico. The company dubbed it a “perfect launch” as the tandem climbed to about 44,500 feet in altitude. Branson, accompanied by Schahaff and Mayers’ friends and family, watched on from Antigua.

After reaching a designated launch point, Unity split off from Eve at 11:22 a.m. EDT, igniting its booster and climbing at three times the speed of sound. It eventually reached its apex at the Kármán Line, nearly 55 miles above the Earth and generally considered the edge of the atmosphere. That’s high enough to earn astronaut wings.

Once there, the crew experienced a few minutes of weightlessness as Unity’s tail booms rotated the capsule for reentry, pointing the windows downward toward Earth in a process Virgin Galactic calls “feathering.” Finally, Unity reentered the atmosphere and glided on its wings to the runway at 11:37 a.m. EDT.

From launch to landing, the mission lasted less than an hour.

Meet the Crew

Though Virgin Galactic caters primarily to the ultra-rich—seats are currently going for a hefty $450,000—the company has emphasized democratizing access to space. With that goal in mind, Galactic 02 will feature a handful of firsts (and one second).

Goodwin, who purchased his ticket for $200,000 in 2008 and is one of the company’s earliest ticket holders, is a former Olympic slalom canoeist who competed in the 1972 Munich Games. An adventurer, he’s climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and competed in the world’s longest canoe race in the Arctic Circle.

Goodwin on Thursday became the first Olympian to reach space as well as the second person with Parkinson’s disease, an achievement he celebrated.

“I hope this inspires all others facing adversity and shows them that challenges don’t have to inhibit or stop them from pursuing their dreams,” he said of the superlative.

Goodwin was joined by Schahaff, a health and wellness coach and entrepreneur, and her daughter Mayers, a philosophy and physics student at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. The duo won their seats in a draw that raised $1.7 million for nonprofit Space for Humanity, which raises money to send citizen astronauts into space.

“When I was two years old, just looking up to the skies, I thought, ‘How can I get there?’” Schahaff said. “But, being from the Caribbean, I didn’t see how something like this would be possible. The fact that I am here, the first to travel to space from Antigua, shows that space really is becoming more accessible.”

Schahaff and Mayers became the first Caribbean women and the first mother-daughter duo to reach orbit. And Mayers, who wants to become an astrobiologist, is now the second-youngest person with that honor.

“This flight highlights two of Virgin Galactic’s core aspirations—increasing access to space and inspiring people around the world,” said Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic. “Each of these astronauts are role models and beacons of inspiration in their communities. Watching Keisha, Ana and Jon embark on this transformative experience helps demonstrate that space is now opening to a broader and more diverse population across the globe.”

The passengers were accompanied by Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic’s lead astronaut instructor who also flew on Galactic 01. Moses carried out all training and preparation for Thursday’s mission.

Unity was piloted by CJ Sturckow and Kelly Latimer, the first female pilot of a commercial spaceship. Nicola Pecile and Mike Masucci commanded the Eve mothership.

Notably, Galactic 02 was a majority female mission, a rarity in space travel. Of the hundreds of astronauts to reach orbit, only around 73 of them have been women.

The Space Race

Virgin Galactic’s flights to the final frontier place it in the thick of the space tourism industry, a new frontier in business. Its main competitors are Blue Origin and SpaceX, respectively owned by billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

Following the success of Galactic 02, Virgin Galactic is expected to launch monthly commercial research and private astronaut missions. So far, it’s sold 800 seats at prices ranging from $200,000 (when Goodwin bought his ticket) to $450,000 (the going price since 2020).

Branson believes the company’s fleet will one day be large enough to support 400 flights per year. It will continue to deploy Unity and Eve through at least 2026, the year it hopes to introduce a new line of “Delta class” spaceships. The first six-passenger spacecraft will be assembled in 2025 and is expected to reduce production costs while enabling higher frequency flights.

With Galactic 02 in the books, Virgin Galactic is picking up momentum while Blue Origin’s New Shepard and SpaceX’s Starship remain grounded. Bezos expects New Shepard, which completed a handful of commercial missions before Virgin Galactic, to return to flight this year. Starship, meanwhile, may remain earthbound for the foreseeable future as the FAA investigation into its April explosion stalls.

The success or failure of the three companies is likely to dictate the next decade of space tourism. Buoyed by billionaire backers, the trio is positioned to conduct more launches than small startups, which should precipitate new regulations as the industry takes shape.

In fact, the FAA in July established a rulemaking committee to examine future regulations around commercial spaceflight passenger safety. The committee already features 25 members, including Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and SpaceX, as well as Boeing.

More likely than not, that’s a sign of things to come. And given the recent scrutiny around expensive, experimental adventure tourism, enhanced safety procedures may be necessary to keep commercial spaceflight viable.

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