Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin prepares for 17th launch of its New Shepard rocket TODAY – sending up NASA science experiments, an art installation and children’s postcards

• Blue Origin is set to launch its New Shepard rocket today 
• The rocket is carrying 18 payloads, postcards and an art instillation
• An artist painted three portraits on the exterior of the Blue Origin capsule 
• The capsule will also test NASA technology to help spacecraft land on the moon
• This is the 17th New Shepard launch and 8th of this specific rocket 

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is gearing up for the 17th launch of its New Shepard rocket Thursday from from the firm’s West Texas facility. 

The 60-foot-high rocket will carry 18 scientific payloads, 11 of which are from NASA, thousands of postcard made by children and an art installation on the capsule’s exterior.

New Shepard will emit 110,000 pounds of thrust when it takes off and soar 62 miles above the desert to the Kármán line, an international definition of space.

The art installation, called ‘Suborbital Triptych, was created by Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo who painted three portraits on the capsule’s main chute covers – one of which is of himself.

‘A self-portrait looking up to the skies best explains what this project means to me,’ Boafo said in a pre-launch statement.

‘I grew up knowing the sky was the limit, and now I get to work on a project that goes beyond the sky as we know it.’

The other two paintings depict Boafo’s mother and fellow artist Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, who is a childhood friend of Boafo’s.

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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is gearing up for the 17th launch of its New Shepard rocket Thursday

The mission will also gather data from outside of the capsule using NASA’s Deorbit, Descent and Landing Sensor Demonstration experiment, which is a suite of lunar landing technologies to reduce risk and increase confidence for successful missions to the moon.

The payload will fly mounted on the exterior of the New Shepard booster and is the second flight for this experiment.

Tucked inside the capsule will be the payloads and postcards made by children as part of Blue Origin’s Club for the Future.

Club for the Future, founded in 2019, is a foundation that aims to inspire future generations to pursue a career in STEM.

The art installation, called ‘Suborbital Triptych, was created by Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo who painted three portraits on the capsule’s main chute covers – one of which is of himself.

The other two paintings depict Boafo’s mother and the mother of fellow artist Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, who is a childhood friend of Boafo’s

Tucked inside the capsule will be the payloads and postcards made by children as part of Blue Origin’s Club for the Future. Club for the Future, founded in 2019, is a foundation that aims to inspire future generations to pursue a career in STEM

This will be the fourth flight for the New Shepard program this year and the eighth flight for this particular vehicle, which is dedicated to flying scientific and research payloads to space and back.

New Shepard, which stands 60 feet tall, was specifically designed for Blue Origin’s space tourism venture and has successfully completed 15 test launches, with the latest on April 14.

The capsule that rides atop New Shepard seats six passengers and is equipped with reclining seats.

Each of the seats has a window that are said to the ‘the largest to fly into space.’

Cameras line the interior, allowing travelers to share their memories that are truly out of this world.

Thursday’s flight comes less than a month from when Bezos took his first flight inside the capsule. He was joined by his brother Mark Bezos (right), Oliver Damen (left)  and  Wally Funk (second from right)

The crew experienced weightlessness for about four minutes, before falling back to Earth to land in Texas

Thursday’s flight comes less than a month from when Bezos took his first flight inside the capsule.

On July 20, the billionaire and his brother Mark traveled 66 miles above the surface.

The pair were joined by 18-year-old Oliver Daemen – the word’s first paying customer to buy his flight – and 82-year-old Wally Funk, who passed NASA’s space program in the 1960s but never made it to space because the women’s flight was canceled.

The crew experienced weightlessness for about four minutes, before falling back to Earth to land in Texas.

While the crew were enjoying their time in space, the booster returned to the landing pad for use on a future flight.

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