Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-35: A Scientific Leap Beyond Suborbital Tourism

This time we’re talking about Blue Origin, but as we are used to, we don’t aim to focus on gossip or trendy news. Instead, let’s turn our attention to the New Shepard program and its next mission, NS-35 — a flight that underscores the company’s growing role in advancing space-based science and technology.

Launch Details

Blue Origin is preparing to launch its 35th New Shepard mission (NS-35) on Saturday, August 23, 2025, from Launch Site One in West Texas. The launch window opens at 7:30 AM CDT (1230 UTC), with a live webcast beginning 15 minutes prior. Unlike the program’s well-publicized crewed flights, NS-35 will be an uncrewed mission, entirely dedicated to science and education.

This mission will fly onboard the RSS H.G. Wells payload capsule and Blue Origin’s newest New Shepard booster — the same vehicle combination that previously supported NS-29, when lunar gravity simulation was successfully demonstrated. NS-35 will provide over three minutes of clean microgravity, a valuable window for research teams across academia, industry, and government.

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Expanding Scientific Horizons

With more than 40 payloads on board, NS-35 will push the total number of experiments flown on New Shepard past 200, marking a major milestone for Blue Origin’s suborbital program. The mission’s manifest highlights the diversity of research interests:

• NASA TechRise Student Challenge, Future Engineers: 24 student-built experiments exploring everything from space farming to medical innovations. These projects give U.S. students in grades 6–12 firsthand experience with space hardware development.

• A.R.E.S., Ecoatoms: A cutting-edge payload testing a chemical coating process in microgravity using 432 sensors — an experiment funded through NASA’s Flight Opportunities program.

• Biological Imaging in Support of Suborbital Science (BISS), University of Florida: Using the FLEX fluorescence imaging system, this research focuses on adapting ISS-proven biological imaging techniques to suborbital science.

• Propellant Refueling and On-Orbit Transfer Operations (PROTO) & Microgravity Ullage Detection (MUD), Carthage College: Experiments testing safer, more precise ways to monitor spacecraft fuel levels — a key step for in-space refueling technology.

• EDR Fuel Cell, Teledyne: A test of hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell systems that could eventually supply power and water for future lunar and Martian habitats.

• TIS-3 & TIS-4, Teachers in Space: Teacher-led experiments from classrooms across the U.S. focused on radiation, acoustics, and environmental monitoring. After the mission, students will analyze results and share them at fairs, conferences, and online.

Inspiring the Next Generation

Alongside the scientific payloads, NS-35 will also carry thousands of postcards from Blue Origin’s Club for the Future, a nonprofit that has already engaged nearly 95 million people globally. The initiative allows students to send their visions of the future to space, fostering STEAM education and imagination on a planetary scale.

Why NS-35 Matters

NS-35 is more than just another suborbital flight. By dedicating an entire mission to research, Blue Origin reinforces its commitment to making space accessible for science, technology development, and education. The experiments aboard this flight will test new technologies, deepen biological insights, and train the next generation of innovators.

As the countdown to August 23 approaches, the NS-35 mission highlights how suborbital platforms like New Shepard are becoming indispensable bridges between Earth-based laboratories and long-duration missions in orbit — and, eventually, on the Moon and Mars.