Bezos suspends space tourism. The priority is the Moon
The race to return to the Silver Globe
The decision to suspend commercial flights results from: the urgent needs of the Artemis program. NASA chose Jeff Bezos’ company for development of landing systems for the Artemis III and Artemis V missions. The agency was looking for an alternative after problems with tests of SpaceX’s Starship rocket.
The time pressure is great. President Trump’s administration is waiting a manned landing on the Moon before the end of the current term. Blue Origin needs to speed up design and production work, which is why engineers are moving away from servicing tourists in favor of a government contract.
New Shepard’s rich flight history
System NewShepard was the first reusable rocket to land vertically. So far it has taken place 38 flights. It’s all at the edge of space 98 people. The passengers included the company’s founder Jeff Bezosactor William Shatner and a singer Katy Perry.
The rocket was also over 200 research payloads for universities and NASA. The company has a waiting list of customers for the coming years. However, anyone willing to spend a few minutes in weightlessness will have to wait until the program is resumed.
