Blue Origin is preparing to launch its new crew module "RS Skármán Line" for the NS-27 mission at 9 a.m. ET on Monday. This will be the capsule's first launch, and the company said in its announcement that the capsule's performance and reusability will be improved, while "painting will be updated and payloads will be installed on the boosters."
The flight will carry two lidar sensors into space that will be used in Blue Origin's lunar permanence plan: developing a lunar lander. The 12 payloads also include ultra-wideband close-range operating sensors, a replica of the black monolith from "2001: A Space Odyssey" and student postcards submitted to the Future Club nonprofit organization. Blue Origin will make the launch process public on its website, with the live broadcast starting 15 minutes before liftoff.
If Monday's launch goes as planned, it will be New Shepard's second flight since May, when the company conducted its first crewed launch since 2022. Blue Origin completed another New Shepard mission in August.
The next flight of the NS-27 comes as Blue Origin works toward its goal of becoming a true competitor to SpaceX. CEO Dave Limp, a former Amazon hardware boss who took over the company late last year, told CNBC that the company needs to "make a lot of stuff" to become a "world-class manufacturer."
"We hope to be delivering one engine per week by the end of this year," Limp said. "I'm not sure we'll be precise to a week, but it will be within 10 days...[By] the end of 2025, we have to be faster than that."
Blue Origin plans to launch its large reusable booster, New Glenn, for the first time in November, after it recently completed its first second-stage hot fire test. Blue Origin said the rocket can lift 45,000 kilograms (more than 99,000 pounds) into low Earth orbit, which is about twice as much as SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. The company also hopes to land and recover the booster on its first flight.