Blue Origin suspends New Shepard tourist flights and focuses on the lunar program

Jeff Bezos' aerospace company Blue Origin has announced a pause in the commercial flights of the New Shepard rocket. For at least the next two years, the craft will not conduct launches with tourists.

What's Known

As the company explains, resources will be directed towards accelerating work on the lunar program — in particular, the creation of the Blue Moon lander.

"This decision reflects Blue Origin's commitment to the country's goal — to return to the Moon and establish a permanent, sustainable lunar presence," the official statement from Blue Origin reads.

The company already has a contract with NASA to deliver astronauts to the Moon. For this purpose, the Blue Moon craft will be used as part of the Artemis 5 mission, which may start in 2029. However, the first uncrewed test launch may take place this year. This will be a demonstration mission to the lunar surface with an automatic module.

New Shepard — a reusable suborbital rocket-capsule complex debuted in 2015. Over time, it has conducted 38 flights, 17 of which carried a crew. A total of 98 people have flown into space, with 92 unique passengers (six people flew twice).

The last New Shepard flight with tourists took place on August 3, 2025. There were six passengers aboard mission NS-34.

For now, the first human landings on the Moon as part of NASA's Artemis 3 and Artemis 4 are planned to be carried out with the Starship from SpaceX. But Blue Origin has the opportunity to join the next missions and even get ahead of schedule if it successfully completes the demonstration this year.

Source: Blue Origin