“It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new booster and a new crew capsule,” Blue Origin’s Maggie McNeece said during a launch livestream.
The vehicle included some new upgrades to improve performance and reliability, Blue Origin said, as well as improved payload accommodations on the booster. That booster carried five payloads for this mission, while seven additional payloads were placed inside the capsule. While Blue Origin did not release details on all the payloads, McNeece said all but one were technology demonstrations developed in-house. That included two different lidar sensors for the “lunar permanence” program and a navigation system for both New Shepard and New Glenn, Blue Origin’s first orbital rocket, which could launch before the end of the year.