Article

I recently participated in a debate with Shannon Stirone, a distinguished science writer, on this topic. The debate was sponsored by Open to Debate, and professionally moderated by Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan.

Video

Mirror: https://archive.ph/s36wZ

| Scheduled for UTC | 2025-04-14 13:30 | |

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| | Scheduled for (local) | 2025-04-14 08:30 (CDT) | | Launch provider | Blue Origin | | Launch site | Launch Site One, West Texas, Texas, USA | | Landing site | North Landing Pad | | Launch vehicle | New Shepard (NS5-3) | | Passengers | Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen, Gayle King, Katy Perry, Kerianne Flynn, and Lauren Sánchez. | | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and safe landing of booster and capsule |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

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| | Blue Origin | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ7XHwMMSas | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwNzF_xQOUs | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbOWxkn5Dt8 |

Stats

• 3rd New Shepard launch of 2025, 31st overall
• 4th Blue Origin launch of 2025, 32nd overall

https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/7814

New Shepard's eleventh crewed flight. The 6-person crew consists of Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen, Gayle King, Katy Perry, Kerianne Flynn, and Lauren Sánchez.

Previous mission (NS-30) | Next mission (NS-32)

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We welcome feedback from the community!

After a quarter of a century, I have learned well that the most sensational stories are best told without sensationalism.

Welcome everyone!

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-04-10 00:59 | |

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| | Scheduled for (local) | 2025-04-09 20:59 (EDT) | | Launch site | SLC-41, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA. | | Launch vehicle | Atlas V 551 | | Launch provider | United Launch Alliance (ULA) | | Customer | Amazon Kuiper Systems | | Payload | KA-01 | | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and deployment of payload into LEO |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

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| | ULA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8XsTzF90sQ | | NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/@NASASpaceflight/streams | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW3RoGNQk9w | | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/@SpaceflightNowVideo/streams | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nov5NRi9ZiM |

Launch statistics

☑️ 1st Atlas V mission of 2025

☑️ 1st ULA mission of 2025

☑️ 102nd Atlas V mission overall

☑️ 164th ULA mission overall

Mission Details 🚀

• ULA mission page
• NextSpaceflight page

Project Kuiper is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access managed by Kuiper Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon. This constellation is planned to be composed of 3,236 satellites. The satellites are projected to be placed in 98 orbital planes in three orbital layers, one at 590 km, 610 km, and 630 km altitude.

Previous ULA launch: Vulcan Cert-2

Next ULA launch: TBD

Space nuclear power and propulsion technologies are poised for a breakthrough after decades of development, but will need consistent government investment to transition to operational systems, according to L3Harris executives.

“We are finally at the cusp for both nuclear electric propulsion and nuclear thermal propulsion,” said Kristin Houston, president of space propulsion and power systems at L3Harris Technologies. “These solutions can be matured and be ready for flight in the next five years.”

Houston leads the business unit absorbed from L3Harris’s acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne — a longtime supplier of space nuclear propulsion systems to NASA.

Despite the promising outlook, Houston emphasized that consistent government investments and leadership are essential to deploy these technologies to help accelerate the space economy.