Watch live: SpaceX launches Starship mission on critical 9th test flight | Live in 19 hours

Watch live as a Super Heavy booster and Starship launch on a critical test flight for SpaceX's fully reusable rocket, following two consecutive failures of the Starship upper stage.

Liftoff of the 9th fully integrated Starship from SpaceX's Starbase facility at Boca Chica Beach, in Texas, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CDT / 7:30 p.m. EDT / 2330 UTC on Tuesday, May 27.

A highlight of the mission will be the reuse of a Super Heavy booster for the first time. The booster will not return for a catch by the launch tower but will instead make a hard splashdown off-shore to allow for more testing.

Our live coverage, hosted by Will Robinson-Smith, will begin two hours before launch and is brought to you in partnership with LabPadre.

Unbelievable!

After decades of glacial progress, Blue Orgin has announced that they'll be landing their Mark 1 Blue Moon lander on the Lunar surface THIS YEAR!

What happens if Jeff Bezos is ready before Elon Musk?
Surprise! Blue Origin will land on the Moon before SpaceX Starship! | 18:39
The Angry Astronaut | 192K subscribers | 18,354 views | May 25, 2025

--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <--
0:04 · [Music]
0:23 · if I'm being honest this is the moment
0:26 · where everything changed for me when it
0:28 · comes to Blue Origin the moment when a
0:31 · company actually has a successful flight
0:34 · and in this case a very successful
0:37 · flight that earns them a generous
0:40 · measure of respect from the angry
0:42 · astronaut especially if it was the first
0:45 · flight yes it took Blue Origin forever
0:49 · to get to this point years and years
0:52 · later than they were expecting and yet
0:54 · they still insisted on being treated
0:57 · like any other company that had already
0:59 · reached orbit and were willing to file
1:02 · multiple lawsuits to enforce their claim
1:05 · i never respected that and I still don't
1:08 · but when it comes right down to it Blue
1:10 · Origin has finally reached the point to
1:13 · where other companies need to be
1:16 · respectful of their accomplishments and
1:19 · they deserve some contracts at this
1:21 · point and they have definitely earned
1:23 · some even from the US military but all
1:27 · of that having been said one flight of
1:30 · their flagship rocket is definitely not
1:33 · enough certainly they're not going to
1:35 · accomplish the same things that SpaceX
1:37 · is going to be accomplishing in the next
1:39 · few years especially if we're talking
1:42 · about Artemis missions obviously SpaceX
1:45 · has a big lead with Starship and we can
1:48 · expect Lunar Starship to be landing on
1:50 · the lunar surface well before Blue Moon
1:53 · does well hold on for a minute because
1:56 · it seems that Blue Origin has other
1:59 · plans indeed if everything goes the way
2:02 · Jeff Bezos plans the first blue moon
2:05 · mission will take place this year well
2:08 · before lunar starship comes anywhere
2:10 · close to cis lunar
2:16 · space good morning and welcome to
2:19 · another angry bulletin from Manhattan
2:23 · New York and uh really looking forward
2:27 · to the flight that I'm about to take
2:29 · that's going to take me back to London
2:32 · back to the UK the place where at least
2:34 · most of the time I like to call home
2:37 · although really I end up traveling all
2:39 · over the world it's tough for me to
2:42 · determine exactly where I live on a
2:44 · permanent basis but still plan to be in
2:47 · the UK for several months at least in
2:50 · the meantime we need to talk about Blue
2:53 · Origin a topic that usually goes
2:56 · handinhand with harsh criticism on this
2:59 · channel i've been rather vicious and
3:02 · ruthless when it comes to criticizing
3:05 · Jeff Bezos and his stepbystep
3:08 · ferociously policy which has generally
3:11 · meant stepbystep and doing nothing
3:14 · however that's changed lately my
3:17 · philosophy always is show me something
3:21 · impressive and my opinion about you
3:24 · folks might change and that applied to
3:27 · SLS i was just nonstop criticizing SLS
3:32 · until actually managed to toss the Orion
3:36 · spacecraft into lunar orbit came back
3:40 · without any sort of significant issue
3:43 · sure maybe a couple things with the heat
3:44 · shield but overall it was close to
3:47 · flawless on the first flight it's
3:50 · impressive and certainly deserves at
3:52 · least some respect and that is the case
3:56 · with New Glenn as well in spite of the
3:58 · enormous time that elapsed before this
4:01 · rocket finally took flight didn't just
4:04 · reach orbit actually reached a pretty
4:07 · aggressive orbit with a very high
4:10 · perigan apogee and again I think quite
4:14 · impressive for a rocket's first flight
4:17 · sure the booster didn't land on the
4:19 · first try but that was to be expected i
4:23 · would have liked Blue Origin to have
4:24 · shown us more details to actually show
4:27 · the booster plunging into the ocean or
4:31 · attempting to land something along those
4:33 · lines but unfortunately up to this point
4:35 · we haven't seen much of anything from
4:37 · that but one announcement we have gotten
4:41 · which is very very impressive from my
4:45 · perspective is the notion that Blue
4:47 · Origin may be setting the unmanned
4:50 · version of their Blue Moonland lander on
4:52 · the lunar surface before the end of the
4:54 · year that is their stated objective not
4:58 · only that they've also rolled out the
5:01 · details for their Earth to Moon
5:04 · transport that is to say a refueling tug
5:07 · essentially that carries fuel to lunar
5:10 · orbit rather than doing the refueling in
5:13 · Earth orbit and this of course being an
5:16 · absolutely crucial part of their whole
5:19 · HLS design the ability to refuel in
5:23 · lunar orbit before setting down on the
5:26 · moon any reusable lunar lander is going
5:29 · to have to have that refueling
5:32 · capability so what does all of this mean
5:35 · is Blue Origin really going to set down
5:38 · on the moon this year and if so does
5:41 · that mean they may have a humanrated
5:44 · spacecraft ready for a lunar mission
5:47 · before SpaceX does
5:53 · in the course of this video I'm going to
5:55 · be quoting extensively from two articles
5:58 · one from
6:00 · aviationweek.com and the other from
6:02 · spacnews.com we'll start off with the
6:05 · aviation week article quote Blue Origin
6:08 · will attempt to land an uncrrewed
6:10 · prototype of its human landing system on
6:13 · the moon south pole this year according
6:16 · to John Kures senior vice president of
6:18 · lunar permanence and this was a
6:20 · statement made on May 20th just a few
6:23 · days ago the company's HLS is one of two
6:27 · in development in partnership with NASA
6:29 · to support crude landings on the moon
6:32 · under the Aremis program nasa awarded
6:34 · the first of two hls flight service
6:38 · contracts to SpaceX which plans to use a
6:40 · variant of its still in development
6:42 · Starship Superheavy system for NASA's
6:45 · Aremis 3 and four missions blue Origins
6:49 · HLS was tapped for Artemis 5 okay none
6:52 · of that is new let's see what else is
6:55 · going on blue Origins Mark 1 which is
6:58 · slated to launch this year on a
7:00 · shakedown mission to the lunar south
7:02 · pole is designed to carry nearly 3.9
7:06 · tons to any location on the moon's
7:08 · surface by contrast the small fleet of
7:11 · small robotic landers that NASA is
7:14 · backing under its commercial lunar
7:16 · payload services contract are designed
7:19 · to carry about one ton powered by a
7:22 · single liquid oxygen and liquid
7:24 · hydrogenfueled BE7 engine the Mark1 will
7:28 · launch aboard a Blue Origin New Glenn
7:30 · rocket and aim to touch down within 33
7:33 · ft of its intended target or 10 m and
7:37 · this is according to an announcement
7:38 · that Gurus made at the opening day of
7:41 · the lunar surface innovation consortium
7:44 · conference at the John's Hopkins
7:46 · University Applied Physics Lab in
7:48 · Maryland assembly of the BE7 flight unit
7:51 · is nearly complete and is expected to
7:53 · ship out to Johnson Space Center in
7:56 · Houston in about 6 weeks for thermal
7:58 · vacuum chamber testing quote "Once
8:01 · that's done it'll come to Cape Canaveral
8:03 · get integrated get encapsulated and then
8:06 · launch on New Glenn a few months after
8:08 · that." Once again according to Coloris
8:11 · in addition to testing technologies and
8:13 · operations for future Mark 2 vehicles
8:16 · the Mark 1 will host some NASA and
8:19 · commercial payloads including a NASA
8:21 · awarded experiment to measure BE7 plume
8:25 · impingement on the lunar surface very
8:28 · important to gain an understanding of
8:30 · how much debris and how much regalith a
8:34 · rocket engine is going to kick up on the
8:36 · lunar surface because really big rocket
8:38 · engines could theoretically launch
8:41 · debris into lunar orbit which could be
8:44 · very hazardous for future missions
8:46 · gloris also unveiled an updated design
8:49 · for the hls systems transporter module
8:53 · the vehicle is designed to launch
8:55 · separately on a new Glenn and be
8:57 · refueled in low Earth orbit using excess
9:00 · propellant from the rocket's upper stage
9:02 · the transporter will then travel to
9:04 · lunar orbit and refuel an awaiting Blue
9:08 · Origin lander ahead of a crew arrival
9:11 · via the space launch system and Orion
9:14 · capsule so refueling being required here
9:17 · both in low Earth orbit and in lunar
9:20 · orbit given the fact that the human
9:23 · rated blue moonland lander is not nearly
9:25 · as massive as lunar starship I suspect
9:29 · it's going to require a lot less
9:31 · refueling than SpaceX's plans will
9:34 · require so the transporter is capable of
9:37 · bringing roughly 110 tons from Earth
9:40 · orbit to lunar orbit or up to 33 tons to
9:43 · Mars orbit and this opens up the solar
9:46 · system according to a ground
9:49 · demonstration of zero boiloff cryogenic
9:52 · propellant storage which is absolutely
9:54 · necessary if you're going to be
9:56 · refueling things in orbit is underway in
9:59 · Washington state where Blue Origin is
10:01 · based quote "By June we will be able to
10:04 · be showing that we are consistently
10:07 · holding cryogenic hydrogen oxygen as
10:10 · storeable propellant." That's again
10:12 · according to Kurus it will be the first
10:14 · time on this scale that we've done this
10:17 · by June next month now let me tell you
10:21 · something compared to everything that
10:23 · Blue Origin has done up to this point
10:25 · that is some very aggressive timing now
10:29 · although the transporter is not
10:31 · necessary for the unmanned version of
10:33 · Blue Moon to set down on the lunar
10:35 · surface it definitely is for the HLS
10:38 · version so let's learn a little bit more
10:41 · about it the company provided few
10:44 · details about the transporter at the
10:46 · time that they won the NASA contract
10:49 · $3.4 billion by the way originally the
10:53 · transporter was going to be developed by
10:55 · other companies that were part of the
10:57 · Blue Origin national team but industry
11:00 · sources said that Blue Origin has since
11:02 · taken over development entirely and I
11:06 · think that's a hell of an idea because
11:08 · the companies that they were going to be
11:11 · collaborating with the old legacy
11:13 · companies would have taken forever to
11:15 · get this job done quote "This vehicle
11:18 · has evolved significantly since we first
11:20 · won the contract." This again according
11:22 · to Coloris the purpose of the vehicle
11:25 · remains to aggregate liquid hydrogen and
11:27 · liquid oxygen propellant in Earth orbit
11:30 · and then transport it to a near rectal
11:32 · linear halo orbit around the moon where
11:35 · it will transfer the propellants to the
11:37 · blue moon lander to enable it to perform
11:39 · a lunar landing the transporter will be
11:42 · launched into low Earth orbit on a new
11:44 · Glenn rocket and then fueled using
11:46 · excess propellant from the new Glenn
11:48 · upper stage as we said before although
11:50 · he did not disclose how many refuelings
11:53 · would be required it will use tanks 7 m
11:56 · in diameter which is the same as the
11:58 · upper stage quote instead of doing
12:01 · bespoke tanks for individual vehicles
12:03 · it's using the same assembly line a key
12:06 · enabler for the system is zero boiloff
12:10 · technology to prevent losses of
12:12 · cryogenic propellants you always hear
12:14 · "Wow that's hard to do." And it is hard
12:16 · to do he said but he noted that the
12:19 · company is making progress on that zero
12:21 · boiloff technology that maintains liquid
12:24 · hydrogen at 20° Kelvin or 20° C above
12:29 · absolute zero and liquid oxygen at 90°
12:32 · Kelvin by the way something I've noticed
12:34 · about this design it has a sun shield
12:38 · absolutely essential to keep propellant
12:41 · from boiling off very similar to what
12:43 · ULA had in mind for a Centaurbased fuel
12:47 · depot so they're definitely putting
12:49 · thought into this working with NASA Blue
12:52 · Origin has integrated its first
12:54 · prototype and put it in a thermal vacuum
12:56 · chamber quote "By June we will be
12:59 · showing that we are consistently holding
13:01 · hydrogen and oxygen as storeable
13:03 · propellants and by December we'll start
13:06 · our flight units." Once again very
13:08 · aggressive timing gloris argued that
13:11 · being able to store liquid hydrogen and
13:13 · liquid oxygen for extended periods would
13:16 · be a breakthrough that propellant
13:17 · combination has the highest performance
13:19 · of major chemical propulsion systems and
13:22 · can be obtained from water on the moon
13:24 · or other celestial bodies i completely
13:27 · agree with that hydrolocks is much
13:30 · easier to access through insitu
13:32 · processes especially on the moon than
13:35 · methylox is a fully fueled transporter
13:38 · can carry about a 100 metric tons as I
13:40 · said before from Earth orbit to lunar
13:43 · orbit with applications beyond the moon
13:45 · as well including that 30 metric tons to
13:48 · Mars that we talked about it can open up
13:50 · the asteroid belt he said it can open up
13:53 · the solar system he didn't offer
13:55 · schedules for testing the transporter or
13:58 · the blue moon lander during a separate
14:00 · panel at the conference on May 20th
14:03 · Jackie Cortez senior director of civil
14:06 · space said that the company expects to
14:08 · conduct both an uncrrewed test landing
14:11 · of the Blue Moon Mark II as well as a
14:13 · crude landing before the end of the
14:16 · decade now is that fast enough for Blue
14:20 · Origin to put humans on the moon before
14:22 · China does assuming that SpaceX can't
14:25 · come through with lunar starship kind of
14:28 · hard to tell but it looks like that's
14:30 · what they're trying to accomplish blue
14:32 · Origin is also building a second Blue
14:35 · Moon Mark1 lander about 6 to 8 months
14:38 · behind the first quote "We're building
14:40 · intentionally now to get hardware rich."
14:43 · According to Kuris if the first mission
14:46 · is not successful we'll learn from it
14:48 · and learn from the objective we
14:50 · succeeded in and the ones where we
14:52 · didn't succeed in and we'll incorporate
14:54 · those into the next vehicle corteiz said
14:57 · that the work on the blue moon is in a
14:59 · dedicated facility we intend for it to
15:02 · be a production line capability she said
15:05 · but she did not discuss the projected
15:07 · production rate for the lander quote it
15:10 · was really important for us to procure
15:12 · all hardware for the two Mark1 missions
15:15 · years ago citing supply chain challenges
15:18 · ideally we'll have a successful first
15:21 · mission of Mark 1 incorporate any
15:23 · findings and be able to fly again she
15:26 · said and if it's not successful we have
15:28 · another lander ready to go that was
15:30 · something that was really important to
15:32 · us but here's the big question is Blue
15:35 · Origin going to be able to put an HLS on
15:40 · the lunar surface before a SpaceX can
15:43 · and if so is that something that NASA
15:46 · would actually entertain especially if
15:48 · it looks like lunar starship is starting
15:51 · to lag
15:56 · behind so of course an obvious question
15:59 · remains if Blue Origin does manage to
16:02 · pull this off and if they can get their
16:04 · humanrated version of Blue Moon ready
16:07 · before Lunar Starship is ready are they
16:10 · going to be the ones carrying out
16:12 · Artemis 3 i mean there's a lot of
16:14 · contractual obligations a lot of
16:16 · commitments that NASA has made that's
16:19 · going to give SpaceX a pretty strong
16:22 · position both legally and otherwise to
16:25 · set down on the moon first but if Lunar
16:29 · Starship starts running into issues it's
16:31 · very possible that Artemis 3 isn't going
16:34 · to happen before the end of Trump's
16:37 · final years in office and if that
16:40 · happens the only chance that Trump may
16:43 · have to make that historic phone call to
16:46 · astronauts setting down on the moon
16:49 · something that was a huge distinction
16:52 · for Nixon's administration something I'm
16:55 · sure Trump would like to have well Blue
16:58 · Origin may turn out to be his only
17:01 · alternative and let me tell you
17:03 · something regardless of what Elon Musk
17:05 · might have done for Trump in the past if
17:08 · it's a choice between making that phone
17:11 · call and not making that phone call I
17:14 · assure you Trump is going to go for the
17:18 · first option regardless of whose toes he
17:21 · has to step on and from my perspective
17:24 · if it comes to beating the Chinese to
17:27 · the surface of the moon and establishing
17:29 · a permanent presence on the moon before
17:33 · China can manage to do it I think that
17:35 · stepping on toes may be what's necessary
17:38 · and is entirely justified thank you very
17:42 · much for watching please don't forget to
17:44 · like and subscribe once again looking
17:46 · forward to seeing my British viewers
17:49 · again i'll be there in less than 24
17:52 · hours very excited indeed in the
17:55 · meantime please consider supporting this
17:58 · channel all the details are in the
18:00 · description that's what makes trips like
18:02 · this possible and I can't wait to bring
18:06 · all of the details from my National
18:09 · Archives expedition to you folks that's
18:11 · coming to you in a very special live
18:15 · stream in a little over 24 hours so get
18:18 · ready for that as well and until next
18:20 · time stay angry about space
18:26 · [Music]

Gonna watch! Thanks for the reminder.

My pleasure. Of course, that's the optimist in both of us, they may have a scrub, or it may have a RUD -- they've had some problems to work out. For a while I thought Musk had a bad apple or two working at SpaceX who didn't like Trump and DOGE etc. But I think it's just because it's a monumentally difficult thing they're doing.

Starship9

Ping.

Thanks.

Thanks!

Unbelievable! After decades of glacial progress

—
Unbelievable because Blue Origin has yet to have a successful launch. The glacial progress will continue ...

"I think it's just because it's a monumentally difficult thing they're doing."

Well it is rocket science. We all appreciate Musk's Buck Rogers approach to reaching outer space. Yet the KISS principle comes to mind. Overly complex systems have myriad ways to fail.

But I think it’s just because it’s a monumentally difficult thing they’re doing.

—
Its a totally redesigned ship and booster (Starship v2). Everything is new or upgraded internally and on the skin, including the fins. Only the general appearance remains the same. Success or RUD, the next flights will be sooner since SpaceX is pre-cleared by the FAA for 25 flights per year now. We may see a Starship launch from the Cape, as well this year.

Overly complex systems have myriad ways to fail.

—
Does not apply to StarShip as it is as simple as it gets to do the jobs its is designed to eventually do.

Bfl

Elon employs KISS all the time. You’ve probably heard him say “the worst thing an engineer can do is perfect a part that shouldn’t exist” and “the best part is no part”. Comparing raptor 1 to raptor 3 shows KISS is integral to their engineering philosophy.

I follow SpaceX quit closely. SpaceX reports the failures in flight 7 and flight 8 were separate and different causes, even though they occurred in roughly at the same time of the flight. They believe they did fix the flight 7 issue of resonance. Flight 9 has updates to address an issue with the raptor 2.

Lots of speculation and rumors about this flight. Possibility tossed in a couple of Raptor 3 engines in the first stage for testing.

No catch of 1st stage. Possibly simulate a engine failed in landing to demonstrate the ability to land minus 1 engine. Rumor they may simulate the los of 2 (of 3) landing center engines - relight an outer ring engine to land. That would be epic!

God speed SpaceX, God speed Elon Musk.

If BO can continue with successful testing/launches and more importantly stay on schedule. BO should be an integral part of the moon-based programs. These will be to compete with the Chinese for a permanent moon base. BO has little to offer in exo-moon missions.

SpaceX has little need for a moon stepping-stone to Mars if they are successful in an orbital refueler.

Yup, sending the Starship to the Moon first is really just part of system development and testing, practice for the envisioned routine working system. It'll still be an awesome system for lunar missions.

The simplification from Raptor 1 to Raptor 2 was remarkable, and Raptor 3 is so simplified by contrast that it doesn't look like it's finished. :^)

I think Starship is a better platform for lunar missions than New Glenn, then again, SpaceX is miles ahead of everyone on just about every front. It's important though to have a plan-B and another viable competitor to keep everyone honest.

The first settlement on Mars will likely be built by a version Optimus before many humans arrive. The moon can be a place to hash all that out prior.

Agreed! I am an optimist in these things, and doubt if anyone there is being nasty...though one can never tell!

--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <--
0:04	·	[Music]
0:23	·	if I'm being honest this is the moment
0:26	·	where everything changed for me when it
0:28	·	comes to Blue Origin the moment when a
0:31	·	company actually has a successful flight
0:34	·	and in this case a very successful
0:37	·	flight that earns them a generous
0:40	·	measure of respect from the angry
0:42	·	astronaut especially if it was the first
0:45	·	flight yes it took Blue Origin forever
0:49	·	to get to this point years and years
0:52	·	later than they were expecting and yet
0:54	·	they still insisted on being treated
0:57	·	like any other company that had already
0:59	·	reached orbit and were willing to file
1:02	·	multiple lawsuits to enforce their claim
1:05	·	i never respected that and I still don't
1:08	·	but when it comes right down to it Blue
1:10	·	Origin has finally reached the point to
1:13	·	where other companies need to be
1:16	·	respectful of their accomplishments and
1:19	·	they deserve some contracts at this
1:21	·	point and they have definitely earned
1:23	·	some even from the US military but all
1:27	·	of that having been said one flight of
1:30	·	their flagship rocket is definitely not
1:33	·	enough certainly they're not going to
1:35	·	accomplish the same things that SpaceX
1:37	·	is going to be accomplishing in the next
1:39	·	few years especially if we're talking
1:42	·	about Artemis missions obviously SpaceX
1:45	·	has a big lead with Starship and we can
1:48	·	expect Lunar Starship to be landing on
1:50	·	the lunar surface well before Blue Moon
1:53	·	does well hold on for a minute because
1:56	·	it seems that Blue Origin has other
1:59	·	plans indeed if everything goes the way
2:02	·	Jeff Bezos plans the first blue moon
2:05	·	mission will take place this year well
2:08	·	before lunar starship comes anywhere
2:10	·	close to cis lunar
2:16	·	space good morning and welcome to
2:19	·	another angry bulletin from Manhattan
2:23	·	New York and uh really looking forward
2:27	·	to the flight that I'm about to take
2:29	·	that's going to take me back to London
2:32	·	back to the UK the place where at least
2:34	·	most of the time I like to call home
2:37	·	although really I end up traveling all
2:39	·	over the world it's tough for me to
2:42	·	determine exactly where I live on a
2:44	·	permanent basis but still plan to be in
2:47	·	the UK for several months at least in
2:50	·	the meantime we need to talk about Blue
2:53	·	Origin a topic that usually goes
2:56	·	handinhand with harsh criticism on this
2:59	·	channel i've been rather vicious and
3:02	·	ruthless when it comes to criticizing
3:05	·	Jeff Bezos and his stepbystep
3:08	·	ferociously policy which has generally
3:11	·	meant stepbystep and doing nothing
3:14	·	however that's changed lately my
3:17	·	philosophy always is show me something
3:21	·	impressive and my opinion about you
3:24	·	folks might change and that applied to
3:27	·	SLS i was just nonstop criticizing SLS
3:32	·	until actually managed to toss the Orion
3:36	·	spacecraft into lunar orbit came back
3:40	·	without any sort of significant issue
3:43	·	sure maybe a couple things with the heat
3:44	·	shield but overall it was close to
3:47	·	flawless on the first flight it's
3:50	·	impressive and certainly deserves at
3:52	·	least some respect and that is the case
3:56	·	with New Glenn as well in spite of the
3:58	·	enormous time that elapsed before this
4:01	·	rocket finally took flight didn't just
4:04	·	reach orbit actually reached a pretty
4:07	·	aggressive orbit with a very high
4:10	·	perigan apogee and again I think quite
4:14	·	impressive for a rocket's first flight
4:17	·	sure the booster didn't land on the
4:19	·	first try but that was to be expected i
4:23	·	would have liked Blue Origin to have
4:24	·	shown us more details to actually show
4:27	·	the booster plunging into the ocean or
4:31	·	attempting to land something along those
4:33	·	lines but unfortunately up to this point
4:35	·	we haven't seen much of anything from
4:37	·	that but one announcement we have gotten
4:41	·	which is very very impressive from my
4:45	·	perspective is the notion that Blue
4:47	·	Origin may be setting the unmanned
4:50	·	version of their Blue Moonland lander on
4:52	·	the lunar surface before the end of the
4:54	·	year that is their stated objective not
4:58	·	only that they've also rolled out the
5:01	·	details for their Earth to Moon
5:04	·	transport that is to say a refueling tug
5:07	·	essentially that carries fuel to lunar
5:10	·	orbit rather than doing the refueling in
5:13	·	Earth orbit and this of course being an
5:16	·	absolutely crucial part of their whole
5:19	·	HLS design the ability to refuel in
5:23	·	lunar orbit before setting down on the
5:26	·	moon any reusable lunar lander is going
5:29	·	to have to have that refueling
5:32	·	capability so what does all of this mean
5:35	·	is Blue Origin really going to set down
5:38	·	on the moon this year and if so does
5:41	·	that mean they may have a humanrated
5:44	·	spacecraft ready for a lunar mission
5:47	·	before SpaceX does
5:53	·	in the course of this video I'm going to
5:55	·	be quoting extensively from two articles
5:58	·	one from
6:00	·	aviationweek.com and the other from
6:02	·	spacnews.com we'll start off with the
6:05	·	aviation week article quote Blue Origin
6:08	·	will attempt to land an uncrrewed
6:10	·	prototype of its human landing system on
6:13	·	the moon south pole this year according
6:16	·	to John Kures senior vice president of
6:18	·	lunar permanence and this was a
6:20	·	statement made on May 20th just a few
6:23	·	days ago the company's HLS is one of two
6:27	·	in development in partnership with NASA
6:29	·	to support crude landings on the moon
6:32	·	under the Aremis program nasa awarded
6:34	·	the first of two hls flight service
6:38	·	contracts to SpaceX which plans to use a
6:40	·	variant of its still in development
6:42	·	Starship Superheavy system for NASA's
6:45	·	Aremis 3 and four missions blue Origins
6:49	·	HLS was tapped for Artemis 5 okay none
6:52	·	of that is new let's see what else is
6:55	·	going on blue Origins Mark 1 which is
6:58	·	slated to launch this year on a
7:00	·	shakedown mission to the lunar south
7:02	·	pole is designed to carry nearly 3.9
7:06	·	tons to any location on the moon's
7:08	·	surface by contrast the small fleet of
7:11	·	small robotic landers that NASA is
7:14	·	backing under its commercial lunar
7:16	·	payload services contract are designed
7:19	·	to carry about one ton powered by a
7:22	·	single liquid oxygen and liquid
7:24	·	hydrogenfueled BE7 engine the Mark1 will
7:28	·	launch aboard a Blue Origin New Glenn
7:30	·	rocket and aim to touch down within 33
7:33	·	ft of its intended target or 10 m and
7:37	·	this is according to an announcement
7:38	·	that Gurus made at the opening day of
7:41	·	the lunar surface innovation consortium
7:44	·	conference at the John's Hopkins
7:46	·	University Applied Physics Lab in
7:48	·	Maryland assembly of the BE7 flight unit
7:51	·	is nearly complete and is expected to
7:53	·	ship out to Johnson Space Center in
7:56	·	Houston in about 6 weeks for thermal
7:58	·	vacuum chamber testing quote "Once
8:01	·	that's done it'll come to Cape Canaveral
8:03	·	get integrated get encapsulated and then
8:06	·	launch on New Glenn a few months after
8:08	·	that." Once again according to Coloris
8:11	·	in addition to testing technologies and
8:13	·	operations for future Mark 2 vehicles
8:16	·	the Mark 1 will host some NASA and
8:19	·	commercial payloads including a NASA
8:21	·	awarded experiment to measure BE7 plume
8:25	·	impingement on the lunar surface very
8:28	·	important to gain an understanding of
8:30	·	how much debris and how much regalith a
8:34	·	rocket engine is going to kick up on the
8:36	·	lunar surface because really big rocket
8:38	·	engines could theoretically launch
8:41	·	debris into lunar orbit which could be
8:44	·	very hazardous for future missions
8:46	·	gloris also unveiled an updated design
8:49	·	for the hls systems transporter module
8:53	·	the vehicle is designed to launch
8:55	·	separately on a new Glenn and be
8:57	·	refueled in low Earth orbit using excess
9:00	·	propellant from the rocket's upper stage
9:02	·	the transporter will then travel to
9:04	·	lunar orbit and refuel an awaiting Blue
9:08	·	Origin lander ahead of a crew arrival
9:11	·	via the space launch system and Orion
9:14	·	capsule so refueling being required here
9:17	·	both in low Earth orbit and in lunar
9:20	·	orbit given the fact that the human
9:23	·	rated blue moonland lander is not nearly
9:25	·	as massive as lunar starship I suspect
9:29	·	it's going to require a lot less
9:31	·	refueling than SpaceX's plans will
9:34	·	require so the transporter is capable of
9:37	·	bringing roughly 110 tons from Earth
9:40	·	orbit to lunar orbit or up to 33 tons to
9:43	·	Mars orbit and this opens up the solar
9:46	·	system according to a ground
9:49	·	demonstration of zero boiloff cryogenic
9:52	·	propellant storage which is absolutely
9:54	·	necessary if you're going to be
9:56	·	refueling things in orbit is underway in
9:59	·	Washington state where Blue Origin is
10:01	·	based quote "By June we will be able to
10:04	·	be showing that we are consistently
10:07	·	holding cryogenic hydrogen oxygen as
10:10	·	storeable propellant." That's again
10:12	·	according to Kurus it will be the first
10:14	·	time on this scale that we've done this
10:17	·	by June next month now let me tell you
10:21	·	something compared to everything that
10:23	·	Blue Origin has done up to this point
10:25	·	that is some very aggressive timing now
10:29	·	although the transporter is not
10:31	·	necessary for the unmanned version of
10:33	·	Blue Moon to set down on the lunar
10:35	·	surface it definitely is for the HLS
10:38	·	version so let's learn a little bit more
10:41	·	about it the company provided few
10:44	·	details about the transporter at the
10:46	·	time that they won the NASA contract
10:49	·	$3.4 billion by the way originally the
10:53	·	transporter was going to be developed by
10:55	·	other companies that were part of the
10:57	·	Blue Origin national team but industry
11:00	·	sources said that Blue Origin has since
11:02	·	taken over development entirely and I
11:06	·	think that's a hell of an idea because
11:08	·	the companies that they were going to be
11:11	·	collaborating with the old legacy
11:13	·	companies would have taken forever to
11:15	·	get this job done quote "This vehicle
11:18	·	has evolved significantly since we first
11:20	·	won the contract." This again according
11:22	·	to Coloris the purpose of the vehicle
11:25	·	remains to aggregate liquid hydrogen and
11:27	·	liquid oxygen propellant in Earth orbit
11:30	·	and then transport it to a near rectal
11:32	·	linear halo orbit around the moon where
11:35	·	it will transfer the propellants to the
11:37	·	blue moon lander to enable it to perform
11:39	·	a lunar landing the transporter will be
11:42	·	launched into low Earth orbit on a new
11:44	·	Glenn rocket and then fueled using
11:46	·	excess propellant from the new Glenn
11:48	·	upper stage as we said before although
11:50	·	he did not disclose how many refuelings
11:53	·	would be required it will use tanks 7 m
11:56	·	in diameter which is the same as the
11:58	·	upper stage quote instead of doing
12:01	·	bespoke tanks for individual vehicles
12:03	·	it's using the same assembly line a key
12:06	·	enabler for the system is zero boiloff
12:10	·	technology to prevent losses of
12:12	·	cryogenic propellants you always hear
12:14	·	"Wow that's hard to do." And it is hard
12:16	·	to do he said but he noted that the
12:19	·	company is making progress on that zero
12:21	·	boiloff technology that maintains liquid
12:24	·	hydrogen at 20° Kelvin or 20° C above
12:29	·	absolute zero and liquid oxygen at 90°
12:32	·	Kelvin by the way something I've noticed
12:34	·	about this design it has a sun shield
12:38	·	absolutely essential to keep propellant
12:41	·	from boiling off very similar to what
12:43	·	ULA had in mind for a Centaurbased fuel
12:47	·	depot so they're definitely putting
12:49	·	thought into this working with NASA Blue
12:52	·	Origin has integrated its first
12:54	·	prototype and put it in a thermal vacuum
12:56	·	chamber quote "By June we will be
12:59	·	showing that we are consistently holding
13:01	·	hydrogen and oxygen as storeable
13:03	·	propellants and by December we'll start
13:06	·	our flight units." Once again very
13:08	·	aggressive timing gloris argued that
13:11	·	being able to store liquid hydrogen and
13:13	·	liquid oxygen for extended periods would
13:16	·	be a breakthrough that propellant
13:17	·	combination has the highest performance
13:19	·	of major chemical propulsion systems and
13:22	·	can be obtained from water on the moon
13:24	·	or other celestial bodies i completely
13:27	·	agree with that hydrolocks is much
13:30	·	easier to access through insitu
13:32	·	processes especially on the moon than
13:35	·	methylox is a fully fueled transporter
13:38	·	can carry about a 100 metric tons as I
13:40	·	said before from Earth orbit to lunar
13:43	·	orbit with applications beyond the moon
13:45	·	as well including that 30 metric tons to
13:48	·	Mars that we talked about it can open up
13:50	·	the asteroid belt he said it can open up
13:53	·	the solar system he didn't offer
13:55	·	schedules for testing the transporter or
13:58	·	the blue moon lander during a separate
14:00	·	panel at the conference on May 20th
14:03	·	Jackie Cortez senior director of civil
14:06	·	space said that the company expects to
14:08	·	conduct both an uncrrewed test landing
14:11	·	of the Blue Moon Mark II as well as a
14:13	·	crude landing before the end of the
14:16	·	decade now is that fast enough for Blue
14:20	·	Origin to put humans on the moon before
14:22	·	China does assuming that SpaceX can't
14:25	·	come through with lunar starship kind of
14:28	·	hard to tell but it looks like that's
14:30	·	what they're trying to accomplish blue
14:32	·	Origin is also building a second Blue
14:35	·	Moon Mark1 lander about 6 to 8 months
14:38	·	behind the first quote "We're building
14:40	·	intentionally now to get hardware rich."
14:43	·	According to Kuris if the first mission
14:46	·	is not successful we'll learn from it
14:48	·	and learn from the objective we
14:50	·	succeeded in and the ones where we
14:52	·	didn't succeed in and we'll incorporate
14:54	·	those into the next vehicle corteiz said
14:57	·	that the work on the blue moon is in a
14:59	·	dedicated facility we intend for it to
15:02	·	be a production line capability she said
15:05	·	but she did not discuss the projected
15:07	·	production rate for the lander quote it
15:10	·	was really important for us to procure
15:12	·	all hardware for the two Mark1 missions
15:15	·	years ago citing supply chain challenges
15:18	·	ideally we'll have a successful first
15:21	·	mission of Mark 1 incorporate any
15:23	·	findings and be able to fly again she
15:26	·	said and if it's not successful we have
15:28	·	another lander ready to go that was
15:30	·	something that was really important to
15:32	·	us but here's the big question is Blue
15:35	·	Origin going to be able to put an HLS on
15:40	·	the lunar surface before a SpaceX can
15:43	·	and if so is that something that NASA
15:46	·	would actually entertain especially if
15:48	·	it looks like lunar starship is starting
15:51	·	to lag
15:56	·	behind so of course an obvious question
15:59	·	remains if Blue Origin does manage to
16:02	·	pull this off and if they can get their
16:04	·	humanrated version of Blue Moon ready
16:07	·	before Lunar Starship is ready are they
16:10	·	going to be the ones carrying out
16:12	·	Artemis 3 i mean there's a lot of
16:14	·	contractual obligations a lot of
16:16	·	commitments that NASA has made that's
16:19	·	going to give SpaceX a pretty strong
16:22	·	position both legally and otherwise to
16:25	·	set down on the moon first but if Lunar
16:29	·	Starship starts running into issues it's
16:31	·	very possible that Artemis 3 isn't going
16:34	·	to happen before the end of Trump's
16:37	·	final years in office and if that
16:40	·	happens the only chance that Trump may
16:43	·	have to make that historic phone call to
16:46	·	astronauts setting down on the moon
16:49	·	something that was a huge distinction
16:52	·	for Nixon's administration something I'm
16:55	·	sure Trump would like to have well Blue
16:58	·	Origin may turn out to be his only
17:01	·	alternative and let me tell you
17:03	·	something regardless of what Elon Musk
17:05	·	might have done for Trump in the past if
17:08	·	it's a choice between making that phone
17:11	·	call and not making that phone call I
17:14	·	assure you Trump is going to go for the
17:18	·	first option regardless of whose toes he
17:21	·	has to step on and from my perspective
17:24	·	if it comes to beating the Chinese to
17:27	·	the surface of the moon and establishing
17:29	·	a permanent presence on the moon before
17:33	·	China can manage to do it I think that
17:35	·	stepping on toes may be what's necessary
17:38	·	and is entirely justified thank you very
17:42	·	much for watching please don't forget to
17:44	·	like and subscribe once again looking
17:46	·	forward to seeing my British viewers
17:49	·	again i'll be there in less than 24
17:52	·	hours very excited indeed in the
17:55	·	meantime please consider supporting this
17:58	·	channel all the details are in the
18:00	·	description that's what makes trips like
18:02	·	this possible and I can't wait to bring
18:06	·	all of the details from my National
18:09	·	Archives expedition to you folks that's
18:11	·	coming to you in a very special live
18:15	·	stream in a little over 24 hours so get
18:18	·	ready for that as well and until next
18:20	·	time stay angry about space
18:26	·	[Music]