Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Blue Origin’s crew capsule – a suborbital six-seater craft.
Credit: Blue Origin

The New Shepard rocket and crew capsule is on tap on make a “touchdown” at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) 65th annual fly-in convention at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

On display the week of July 24-30, Blue Origin’s exhibit will feature a 1:1 mockup of New Shepard’s astronaut crew capsule, roomy enough for six passengers.

Visitors of the exhibit will be able to climb inside the capsule, recline in flight-ready seats and experience a simulated flight to space created with real mission footage from New Shepard’s on board cameras.

The crew capsule features the largest windows in spaceflight history, which take up more than one-third of the capsule’s surface area offering every passenger a striking view during flight.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster takes flight.
Credit: Blue Origin

Blue Origin goal

“We are very excited to come to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2017 and showcase our reusable New Shepard rocket and crew capsule so everyone can experience what it’s like to be an astronaut,” said Rob Meyerson, president of Blue Origin. “We hope to inspire the explorers of tomorrow, the ones who will help us achieve Blue Origin’s goal of millions of people living and working in space,” he said in a press statement.

The Blue Origin exhibit will be one of the main attractions on Boeing Plaza.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster executes a controlled vertical landing at 4.2 mph.
Credit: Blue Origin

Karman line exploration

On November 23, 2015, New Shepard became the first rocket to ascend above the Karman line and successfully return to Earth for a vertical landing.

On that date the vehicle reached a height of approximately 330,000 feet — also known as the Karman Line, or the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space — and then returned to Earth to make a vertical soft landing. It was the first time a booster rocket had ever performed such a feat, and it was a huge step forward in the company’s plan to make space tourism a reality.

New Shepard flight profile.
Credit: Blue Origin

In 2018, the New Shepard rocket is slated to undergo test flights with a crew.

The EAA AirVenture Oshkosh fly-in convention occurs every July.

For more information, go to: www.eaa.org