Blue Origin pauses New Shepard flights for no less than 2 years!? [2:01]

YouTube ^ | January 30, 2026 | Ellie in Space

[SunkenCiv]

Blue Origin pauses New Shepard flights for no less than 2 years!? | 2:01 
Ellie in Space | 216K subscribers | 15,046 views | January 30, 2026

YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai follows.

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TOPICS: Astronomy; Business/Economy; Science
KEYWORDS: amazon; artemisii; blueorigin; ellieinspace; falcon9; fireflyaerospace; impulsespace; lunar; moon; nasa; newshepard; plldspace; rocketlab; spacex; starship; vardaspace; vastaerospace

[SunkenCiv]

Transcript

Well, this is interesting news from Blue Origin. They've announced that they will pause New Shepard flights for no less than 2 years. And this is because the resources will be redirected to further accelerate the lunar human flight program, which is pretty telling. Hint hint, Artemis.

So, let me read you a little more of what they released, and it's not that much. The decision reflects Blue Origin's commitment to the nation's goal of returning to the moon and establishing a permanent sustained lunar presence. New Shepard is the first reusable spaceflight system to vertically land and has flown 38 times and carried 98 humans above the Karman line to date, including Katy Perry, William Shatner, and, uh, who's the guy? Uh, Michael Strahan, to just to name a few. Of course, Jeff Bezos as well. There's been many celebrities and non-celebrities that have flown on New Shepard.

New Shepard has also launched more than 200 scientific and research payloads from students, academia, research organizations, and NASA. This consistent and reliable performance combined with an exceptional customer experience has resulted in a multi-year customer backlog. But those people are going to have to wait for at least two years.

So, this is a really interesting development and they didn't really share much about it, but this points to them being, uh, you know, wanting to put all of their resources into working on Artemis. And when I say that, I mean that they want to be the lunar lander for Artemis 3, which we know will be the first time humans will have landed on the moon in over 50 years.

So, we're about to see Artemis 2. That's going to be just a flyby. So, they're just going around, you know, 250,000 miles each way just to fly around. Still cool. But for the landing, Blue Origin says, "Hey, don't forget about us. We're literally stopping everything with New Shepard so that we can make this happen."

[SunkenCiv]

Rare Arctic Outbreak in Florida
Delays Artemis II Wet Dress Rehearsal, Launch | 1:33
FOX Weather | 1M subscribers | 1,781 views | January 30, 2026

Transcript

I will say they're also in the topic of Florida, a really significant launch. There is a crewed mission that will be orbiting the Moon, and we've already had its the Artemis Two launch. We have the rocket and the capsule out on the launch pad already. But we just received word from NASA that they are going to delay this launch.

Now they're moving a key test of its rocket as unusual weather is gripping Central Florida, as we talked about. They're planning to do a wet dress rehearsal on Saturday instead of Monday to avoid those colder temperatures. As we are going to feel, you just showed what we could have in Miami. Now, obviously Cape Canaveral is north of Miami, but what was going to be viewed as a possible launch window starting on February 6th? So that's the end of next week. We're now going to open that launch window, according to NASA officials, on February 8th. So just a couple of days delayed.

But cold air can certainly affect rocket launches. Hate to even bring it up, but when you look at the Challenger disaster, cold air was in part to blame for what happened on that fateful day, which we just had that anniversary. Nonetheless, a really important mission, because this will be a crewed mission to the Moon and well around the Moon and landing on the Moon. Yet, you know, waiting a couple of days. You know, better for safety, that's for sure.

YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai.

[SunkenCiv]

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/when-will-artemis-ii-launch

Launch period 31 January – 14 February
Launch opportunities: 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11 February

Launch period 28 February – 13 March
Launch opportunities: 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 March

Launch period 27 March – 10 April
Launch opportunities: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 April

[ETCM]

There’s a pretty limited number of people willing to pay the cost of riding a missile to 328,000 feet, just so they can say they’ve been to “space” for a few minutes. It goes to show space tourism isn’t feasible yet.

[SunkenCiv]

It’s not as if the Blue Origin thrill ride has a quick turnaround time, otherwise the company could have made money. It’s been a test bed and money loser, which was test flown nearly twenty times before passengers tried it the first time.

[SunkenCiv]

This week at Starbase Block 3 vehicle testing continues at the Massey Outpost, system testing continues at Pad 2, and new hardware continues to arrive for the Air Separation Plant. In other space news, SpaceX launched 3 more Starlink missions this week, along with the next third-generation GPS satellite, the FAA released the environmental impact statement for Starship activities at Cape Canaveral, the Artemis II crew enters quarantine as NASA announces a potential launch date for the mission and Blue Origin has paused all New Shepard flights for at least the next 2 years.  

Elon Gives Estimate on Timeline for Starship Flight 12 - Is it Realistic? | 9:46 
Avid Space | 249K subscribers | 4,669 views | Febuary 1, 2026

Transcript

Weekly Space Update

This week at Starbase, we saw more Block 3 test tank activity at the Massie Outpost, systems testing at pad 2, and a slew of deliveries to the air separation plant. Also, is Elon Time rearing its ugly head with his latest timeline estimate for flight 12? Well, let's dig into this week's update and find out.

Launch Complex Activity

Starting off this week at the launch complex, both of the stabilizer arms on the pad 1 chopsticks were cut off of the bottom of the arms as SpaceX continues to work on upgrading the old infrastructure. Closer to the road, concrete crews poured foundations for new cryogenic methane storage tanks that will be added to the tank farm. Over at pad 2, crews poured the end of the new blast wall between the trench and Highway 4. A couple of days later, the formwork was removed, revealing the entirety of the new wall for the first time.

This week also saw a flurry of activity across the road at the air separation plant site. Several new pre-fabricated assemblies were delivered to Starbase throughout the week, with the cranes working during the daylight hours to lift and lower them into position at the developing commodity production facility. Over at the Massie Outpost, the two-ring ship skirt article was lifted off the B-18.3 test tank following its failure last week. Now, we still don't know the status of the testing campaign and whether or not the article will need to be repaired or replaced for additional tests. What do you all think?

The tension rods were removed from around the B18.1 test tank in the structural testing cage at the site, seemingly indicating that the article's testing campaign has concluded, at least for the time being. SpaceX is really showing some diligence out here at Massiey's because the ship 39.1 Block 3 test tank underwent an overall eighth round of cryogenic testing on Thursday. Proving out the design changes for the latest Starships is obviously their top priority right now.

Testing and Operations

On Sunday, SpaceX did some testing over at pad 2. First, the detonation suppression system was activated. Then, a short time later, the pad's deluge system was switched on, blasting water through the flame trench. A little over a day later, the pad 2 deluge was activated again, not only testing the system but demonstrating a relatively quick turnaround as well.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, a booster transport stand was moved into the ringard from the Sanchez site. About 24 hours later, the stand, still empty, was taken down Highway 4 to the launch complex. The skies over Starbase reverberated with a different kind of roar on Friday afternoon as three Air Force T38C Talons performed a flyover of SpaceX's facilities. These kinds of surprises are always fun to see when you're out there.

Yesterday, booster 19 made its way out of Mega Bay 1, and after a couple of delays under the cover of darkness, it was transported to Massie early this morning. Over the next few days, we should see some pressure and cryo tests to validate this flight 12 beast. Elon posted this week that the next flight of Starship is just 6 weeks away. Now, while that prospect is certainly exciting, it seems pretty optimistic, and doubling it is probably more realistic, as many have come to see that as a standard for timeline comments from him.

With January ending without either flight 12 vehicle having even undergone a cryo test and pad 2 still not having been tested with vehicles, SpaceX's checklist before the next launch is still a mile long. If you'd like to learn more about exactly what's left to be done, be sure to click the link in the description to read the article on our new website.

Falcon 9 Operations

Switching over to this week's Falcon 9 operations, the first launch of this week blasted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sunday, carrying another 25 Starlink satellites to sun-synchronous orbit. Of note, we once again saw Starship heat shield tiles added to the fairing for the mission as SpaceX piggybacked some Starship testing on another Starlink launch.

Tuesday night, just before midnight, Falcon 9 booster 1096 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40, sending a third-generation GPS satellite to medium Earth orbit for the US Space Force. Both fairing halves and the booster were successfully recovered and returned to Port Canaveral for processing ahead of their next missions.

On Thursday, another Starlink mission was launched from Space Launch Complex 4E in California, once again sporting a patch of Starship heat shield tiles on its fairing. The final Falcon 9 mission of the week was at Space Launch Complex 40 just over 50 hours after the pad's previous launch. Falcon 9 booster 1095 sent another 29 Starlink satellites on their way to low Earth orbit before landing downrange on Just Read the Instructions.

Other News

Moving on to other news, the big story this week is the FAA's release of the environmental impact statement for Starship activity at historic launch complex 39A. The statement gives SpaceX the okay for up to 44 launches of Starship and Superheavy and an identical number of landings for each vehicle. It also provides graphics showing the intended return corridor for a Starship landing, as well as hazard areas and offshore landing zones.

We can also see that ships and boosters shipped from Texas will be routed up the Banana River to the VAB turning basin for offload, a route that would only be achievable for horizontal vehicles. Now, the ball is in SpaceX's court to finish building out the pads' infrastructure as well as the Roberts Road gigabay to prepare vehicles for launches from the Space Coast.

Astronauts Reed Wisman, Victor Glover, and Christina Ko, as well as Jeremy Handen from the Canadian Space Agency, have recently entered quarantine ahead of their launch on SLS for the Artemis 2 mission. NASA also announced that the mission's wet dress rehearsal has been pushed back to Monday. If all goes according to plan, the historic mission could launch as soon as Sunday the 8th, returning humans to lunar orbit for the first time in over half a century.

NASA has also passed a major milestone in advancing space-based nuclear propulsion. Throughout 2025, engineers completed a series of cold flow testing, simulating propellant flow through a reactor in a variety of operational conditions. This technology could unlock new capabilities for deep space missions.

Rocket Lab

On Friday, Rocket Lab had their second launch of 2026 with the Bridging the Swarm mission. After lifting off from New Zealand, the rocket sent Neon Sat 1A, an Earth observation satellite, on its way to sun-synchronous orbit for the Korea Aerospace Administration. The first captive fairing for Rocket Lab's Neutron rocket arrived at their facilities in Wallops, Virginia, and has been unwrapped in preparation for checkouts and pre-launch testing as the company continues to prepare for the rocket's inaugural launch.

Blue Origin

Blue Origin shared footage from their docking system team of a successful soft capture test. This is a big step forward for the company since in-space docking is a new frontier for them. The company also said this week that they will be pausing all New Shepard flights for at least 2 years as they focus on human lunar capabilities, their New Glenn rocket, and ramping up its launch cadence.

Amazon has contracted SpaceX for an additional 10 launches for their LEO satellite internet constellation, bringing the total number of SpaceX LEO missions to 13. Amazon has also petitioned the FCC for a 2-year extension of a mid-year deadline to employ the first 1600 satellites in their LEO constellation. The company cites delays beyond their control that resulted in the launch of just seven of their 20 planned missions for 2025.

Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace posted that their inner stage for the Antaris 330 is on the test stand. This hardware is designed as the interface between Northrop Grumman's second stage and the Firefly-built first stage. The company also announced that their next Alpha rocket is now at the pad in preparation for static fire testing ahead of launch number seven.

Impulse Space

Impulse Space said that phase one of their Helios vertical test stand is nearing completion. This stand will allow the company to begin validating design intent and characterizing stage performance, bringing them one step closer to producing flight hardware. Spanish aerospace company PLLD Space posted a progress update on their Mura 5 orbital class rocket. The company is making good progress on both their production and integration processes while working parallel qualification testing of launch vehicle components.

Varda Space Industries

Varda announced the return to Earth of their W5 space capsule after it touched down in southern Australia this week. This marked the first re-entry of the company's latest satellite bus and carried a payload for the Navy that collected re-entry data following its two months in orbit. ESR Aerospace posted that after successfully troubleshooting issues with a pressurization valve, the new launch window for the second test flight of their Spectrum rocket will open on March 19th.

Vast Aerospace

Vast Aerospace has moved on to full-scale testing of the life support system for their Haven 1 space station that they hope to launch as soon as early next year. Axiom Space announced this week that NASA has awarded the company a fifth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. The crew for the mission, set to launch no earlier than January of next year, is still being finalized.

Wrap

And there you have it, another Avid Space Update brought to you by all of our hardworking production team. If you like what you've been seeing, leave us a comment and let us know what you think. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next week.

YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai.

[BradyLS]

I really don’t understand the shade for Blue Origin. It’s a dangerous business to be in and so far they have run a safe program. I acknowledge the supremacy of Space X and admire Blue Origin’s undaunted attitude in their efforts to excel.

I don’t think their efforts denigrate the hard work and training of the pioneers that went into space. But shows how much we’ve learned that a company can send tourists to the Karman line on a reusable craft and bring them down safely.

Beats the hell out of that specious submersible that they lost over the Titanic. Even Boeing sent up a craft to the ISS that no one thought passengers should return in, after they found problems on the way up. Blue Origin at least knows its limitations as it works towards a safe lunar lander. I hope their team masters the challenge.

[SunkenCiv]

I don't understand why legit criticism of Blue Origin is regarded as throwing shade on it.

[BradyLS]

Maybe because people that put down Blue Origin make the whole effort seem easier than it really is. As if nothing has been achieved now that space tourism is finally a thing and they’ve been entrusted with developing a lander.

[SunkenCiv]

Maybe because people who are big fans of Blue Origin get their wittle feewings hurt.

[BradyLS]

😄

[catbertz]

My gripes with BO is pretty much just Bezos, and how slow they were for many many years, but I completely acknowledge that they’ve nailed their flight systems software and hardware to a high level. All those launch & landings of the flying wiener ironed out the process for New Glenn’s solid performance last year. They do need to accelerate their program big time or SPX is going to steamroll them. I think Bezos is thinking about this every night.

[Jeff Chandler]

[insert pun about New Shephard not going up]

[Rockingham]

I think that Blue Origin’s stand down is meant to express a full commitment to its NASA funded lunar lander project. Trump is shrewd about contractors, and he seems to have a policy of pushing them for commitment and performance instead of taking assurances for granted and blindly endorsing cost over runs and accepting delays.

[Adder]

Did those women mess up the capsule they took so bad it had to be grounded?

[ClearCase_guy]

people that put down Blue Origin make the whole effort seem easier than it really is.

Well, it's not rocket science.

[EVO X]

There’s a pretty limited number of people willing to pay the cost of riding a missile to 328,000 feet, just so they can say they’ve been to “space” for a few minutes. It goes to show space tourism isn’t feasible yet.

It was the same thing with the Titan submersible that made trips to the Titanic. Rush was having trouble finding passengers to pay $250K each. One of the potential clients turned down a deep discount for him and his son to make the trip on the doomed submersible.

[bk1000]

This is the company that launched Katy Perry in a cardboard capsule. Everyone saw the fraud, but they never admit it. Such a fake.

[Paal Gulli]

And so begins the inevitable militarization of the moon (cue the endless tawdry references to ‘The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress’).

Jules Verne was sciency-enough to understand that the ideal place for a space launch would be either south Texas or Florida, and in the end chose “Tampa Town” (as he called it).

Which makes it sort of creepy, dunnit, that the first word spoken on the moon was “Houston.”

[BradyLS]

Thanks! You saved me the trouble! 🙂