{"id":19088,"date":"2017-01-28T20:56:52","date_gmt":"2017-01-28T12:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/heres-what-itll-be-like-to-ride-on-jeff-bezos-suborbital-blue-origin-spaceship\/"},"modified":"2017-01-28T20:56:52","modified_gmt":"2017-01-28T12:56:52","slug":"heres-what-itll-be-like-to-ride-on-jeff-bezos-suborbital-blue-origin-spaceship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/heres-what-itll-be-like-to-ride-on-jeff-bezos-suborbital-blue-origin-spaceship\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what it\u2019ll be like to ride on Jeff Bezos\u2019 suborbital Blue Origin spaceship"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Blue
An artist\u2019s conception shows passengers looking through one of the windows in Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard suborbital spaceship. (Blue Origin Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The folks who ride New Shepard, the suborbital spaceship being tested by Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture, will be given barf bags to tuck into their flight suits. But they almost certainly won\u2019t need them.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the word from former NASA astronaut Nicholas Patrick, who is now working out what passengers aboard New Shepard will experience. His official title at Blue Origin is human integration architect.<\/p>\n

Patrick and other Blue Origin employees showed off what the company\u2019s done so far, and what it plans to do over the next couple of years, for a standing-room crowd of about 500 folks on Friday night during an \u201cAstronomy on Tap\u201d presentation at the Peddler Brewing Company in Seattle\u2019s Ballard neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Over the past 14 months, New Shepard has made five successful uncrewed flights to space and back, rising beyond 100 kilometers (62 miles) in altitude from Blue Origin\u2019s test site in West Texas.<\/p>\n

If all goes according to plan, Bezos has said New Shepard could start carrying trained test astronauts by the end of this year, and take on paying passengers next year. Patrick basically confirmed that\u2019s still the plan, but declined to provide a more detailed timeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t publish the details of the flight test program, that\u2019s proprietary information,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cSo what I can tell you is I expect we\u2019ll be flying people in the next year or two.\u201d<\/p>\n

When that happens, passengers can expect to take an 11-minute ride that goes roughly straight up and straight down from a launch pad that\u2019s about a two-hour drive from El Paso. Up to six passengers will take their seats, looking downward through big picture windows.<\/p>\n

There won\u2019t be a pilot on board. Instead, launch and ascent will be controlled remotely and autonomously, with backup systems set up in case something goes wrong. New Shepard\u2019s escape system was successfully tested in October under worst-case conditions.<\/p>\n

Passengers will experience 1.5 to 3 G\u2019s of acceleration on the way up, which is about what you\u2019d feel when you\u2019re riding a roller coaster. At the top of the ride, you\u2019ll have 3.5 to 4 minutes of weightless. That\u2019ll be your opportunity to unhook the straps and float around the roomy 530-cubic-foot cabin.<\/p>\n

An array of cameras will be placed all over the cabin, so you shouldn\u2019t have to worry about taking your own selfies (or bringing up a bulky camera that could pose a flight hazard).<\/p>\n

On the way down, the crew capsule will be slowed by parachutes, and you should flump back down onto West Texas rangeland with a jolt of less than 5 mph.<\/p>\n