{"id":18079,"date":"2019-04-18T00:09:51","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T16:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/blue-origin-strikes-a-deal-with-nasa-to-use-a-historic-rocket-test-stand-in-alabama\/"},"modified":"2019-04-18T00:09:51","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T16:09:51","slug":"blue-origin-strikes-a-deal-with-nasa-to-use-a-historic-rocket-test-stand-in-alabama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/blue-origin-strikes-a-deal-with-nasa-to-use-a-historic-rocket-test-stand-in-alabama\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin strikes a deal with NASA to use a historic rocket test stand in Alabama"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Test
A 1965 photo shows a Saturn V first-stage rocket engine being test-fired at Marshall Space Flight Center\u2019s Test Stand 4670 in Alabama. Blue Origin has struck a deal with NASA to refurbish and use the facility, which has been inactive since 1998. (NASA Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture has signed an agreement with NASA for the use of a historic test stand at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.<\/p>\n

Under the terms of a Commercial Space Launch Act agreement, Blue Origin will upgrade and refurbish Test Stand 4670 to support testing of its BE-3U and BE-4 rocket engines, NASA said today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis test stand once helped power NASA\u2019s first launches to the moon, which eventually led to the emergence of an entirely new economic sector \u2013 commercial space,\u201d NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Morhard said in a news release. \u201cNow, it will have a role in our ongoing commitment to facilitate growth in this sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 300-foot-tall, vertical firing test stand was built in 1965 to test rocket engines for NASA\u2019s Saturn V rocket, and was later modified to support testing of the space shuttle external tank and main engine systems. It hasn\u2019t been used since 1998.<\/p>\n

NASA identified the test stand as an underused facility and posted a notice of availability in 2017 to gauge commercial interest in its use. Blue Origin responded to the notice, and a team was commissioned to explore a partnership.<\/p>\n

The Alabama connection got stronger last year when United Launch Alliance selected Blue Origin\u2019s BE-4 engine, which is fueled by liquefied natural gas, to power the first stage of its next-generation Vulcan rocket. That opened the way for Blue Origin to start building a $200 million rocket engine factory in Huntsville.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin also plans to use the BE-4 as well as the hydrogen-fueled BE-3U engine on its own orbital-class New Glenn rocket. BE-4 engines are currently being built at Blue Origin\u2019s headquarters in Kent, Wash., but production will shift to Alabama once the Huntsville factory is finished.<\/p>\n

Both New Glenn and the Vulcan rocket are due to go into service in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am thrilled about this partnership with NASA to acceptance-test both BE-4 and BE-3U engines at Test Stand 4670, the historic site for testing the Saturn V first stage and the space shuttle main engines,\u201d Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said. \u201cThrough this agreement, we\u2019ll provide for the refurbishment, restoration and modernization of this piece of American history \u2013 and bring the sounds of rocket engines firing back to Huntsville.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marshall Center Director Jody Singer said she was \u201cthrilled to welcome Blue Origin to our growing universe of commercial partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis agreement ensures the test stand will be used for the purpose it was built,\u201d Singer said.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin will pay for the investments it makes to prepare the test stand for use, plus any direct costs NASA incurs as a result of Blue Origin\u2019s use of the stand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 1965 photo shows a Saturn V first-stage rocket engine being test-fired at Marshall Space Flight Center\u2019s Test Stand 4670 in Alabama. Blue Origin has struck a deal with NASA to refurbish and use the facility, which has been inactive since 1998. (NASA Photo) Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture has signed an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4865,4449,4459,509,1803,190],"class_list":["post-18079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-alabama","tag-be-3u-rocket-engine","tag-be-4-rocket-engine","tag-blue-origin","tag-marshall-space-flight-center","tag-nasa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18079\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}