New Shepard riders will experience up to 3 G-forces during launch and up to 5.5 Gs during descent.
Luckily, they’ll have ‘special seats:’
the seats have been designed to flex and absorb g-forces in the unlikely event of an off-nominal landing
Thanks for the info! 5.5 g’s is pretty big. It only seems small when compared to 11.6.
To me, 5.5 g’s is an “early space program” level of acceleration. It is is on par with Apollo re-entry (6 to 7 g), greater than Soyuz (~4 g) unless something goes wrong and it comes in ballistically (6 to 8 g).
Good thing Wally Funk trained as a Mercury Astronaut!
As for launching g-forces, New Shepard’s < 3 g’s max seems par these days. That’s the level of the space shuttle max g’s on launch. Soyuz is similar, < 4 g. I did a quick, back-of-the-envelope calculation and got an average thrust acceleration for the New Shepard flight of under 2g, so < 3 g max sounds to be ballpark.
If you will permit me to prognosticate…
One thing people (non space types) might not realize is, this short “hop” or cannonball type flight, can be very hard on your body, compared even to an orbital re-entry. After getting over the stresses of the launch, then a few minutes of zero gee in which you’ll no doubt be encouraged to float around the cabin (if you don’t feel too sick), comes the worst part:
During descent, while strapped into your extra special chair, within about a one-minute period you’ll go from near weightless to about 5.5 g’s. Then, quickly, these will back off and return to 1 g, after a few jolts as the parachutes deploy. I don’t think many people will enjoy the feelings of floating, then being squashed by an elephant, then released, all within 2 minutes.
If a gentler option exists, such as Branson’s craft, or an orbital space tourism vehicle (perhaps the Dragon), space tourists are going to choose that.
Richard Branson was on Stephen Colbert’s show the other day and was asked about getting sick. He said he didn’t but I was wondering if, for such a short trip, if it would help to have an empty stomach.
That’s only when things go wrong the right way. When they go wrong the wrong way, Soyuz can hit 21 gees.
Probably wouldn’t make much difference. It would reduce the amount you would hork up if you do get motion sick, but is unlikely to change whether you get nauseous or not. The nausea comes from the vestibular system in the inner ear getting out of whack, not from the stomach. Your fellow passengers will appreciate the minimal vomitus, but you, being sick, are unlikely to appreciate the wonders of zero g and the view out the window.
Indeed, I think that one is thought of as having set the high-bar for g’s measured during a spaceflight…and the instrument broke, so it was an estimated value.
This mission was interesting too because, IIRC, the cosmonauts were concerned they might be landing in China (their failure was in reaching orbit, so they came down very steeply). I read somewhere (might have been James Oberg) that on the way down, one of the cosmonauts asked mission control “We are landing in the Soviet Union, right?”
Eh, not really. Some amusement park rides get more than that.
Relevant James Bond Moonraker clip
(From about 1:15)
Dr Goodhead: “C’mon, Mr. Bond. A 70-year old can take 3 g’s.”
Bond: “The trouble is, there’s never a 70-year old around when you need one.”
It’s not unusual for a ride design to be scrapped, because amusement park ride designers have consulted with NASA, etc. and NASA informed them that the human body can’t take those g-forces.
I’m guessing that filming this was a very interesting experience, in more ways than one.
I can’t get over the hatred towards Bezos and Branson about these flights. Who cares what they’re doing with their money, as long as it’s legal? Godspeed, Mark, Jeff, Wally, and Olivier when the time comes!
I saw an article this morning where they grapple with the odds of Jeff Bezos not surviving this flight. My own SWAG is in line with their guesstimates, because not only could something go wrong with the rocket, something might also go wrong with this passenger.
I am imagining a 1% chance he’s a casualty (harmed in any way) by this flight. That’s not too terrible a roll of the dice, when measured against a form of immortality (history will remember this!).
Watched the live coverage – didn’t show any interior shots.
IMHO Wally Funk is the best part of this.
Brian
Live coverage. You can drag the video stream to T-0:01:00 (look for the launch time on the upper right) to see the launch and then landing.
Flawless launch and landing for Blue Origin’s New Shepard!
I’m totally chuffed that Bezos has developed a re-usuable rocket - the fact that this is becoming so routine that some people just aren’t impressed anymore is a major, major accomplishment for space.
I’m also absolutely thrilled that Wally Funk FINALLY got into space. She and the rest of the “Mercury 13” were unjustly denied their opportunity to be astronauts solely because they were women. No other reason. Today, she finally got to fly. Good for her! I hope to be doing similar amazing things at her age.
The profound utterance during the life transforming experience:
“WooHoo”
Overprivileged billionaire who gets to go to space while not treating his employees very well aside, it was exciting to watch. I watched it on NBC and the female news person (not sure who it was) was giggling with excitement and relief as the booster rocket landed safely and the parachutes fired on the capsule.
I got an odd deja vu feeling seeing the booster rocket touch down vertically on those little legs on the launchpad-- it reminded me of how spaceships used to land on strange planets in old 50s sci-fi movies I’d watch as a a kid.
“Overprivileged billionaire” is a redundant statement if there ever was one, and in general one does not earn a fortune by being particularly generous or even nice to one’s employees. That’s a given with private space industry at this point.
What has me excited is that 1) the price per launch/person is coming down over time and 2) these launches are repeatedly successful. That’s what’s going to make for an actual “space industry” long term.
Yes. Many people are writing harsh articles about “billionaire privilege” but I choose to see this moment (including Branson) as a doorway humanity must step through in order to achieve a permanent foothold in space. Governments are not going to carry us all the way; we need big companies to do so.
Despite, sigh, the fact that an Amazon-run space colony is likely to resemble the sad state of affairs captured so well in “The Expanse.”
And also not active duty military test pilots… the same reason Armstrong didn’t get in the Mercury program either.
And yet Armstrong got to the Moon - why not Wally Funk and her sisters?
The requirement that astronauts come from a military background pretty much shut out ANY woman, not matter how qualified. Women simply did not have the opportunities back then that men did, simply because they were women. If it had been a truly level playing field some of those women would have been tapped for the Gemini and Apollo programs. They weren’t. They weren’t even considered. Because they were women.
It’s not like NASA didn’t grant waivers - the Mercury 7 guys were all supposed to have college degrees but they waived that requirement for John Glenn. Alright to make an exception for Glenn, but for any woman, no matter how qualified? No way! The rules must be observed!