Blue Origin has announced a halt on its space tourism flights for a minimum of two years to concentrate on developing human lunar capabilities. The company is engaged in building landing systems for NASA's Artemis program, specifically focusing on the Artemis III and Artemis V missions. Originally tasked with creating a human landing system for the Artemis V, Blue Origin pivoted to design an alternative for Artemis III due to delays experienced by SpaceX.
This decision means that there will be no further launches of the New Shepard spacecraft, which has previously completed 37 flights and transported 98 passengers, including celebrities like Katy Perry and William Shatner, to the edge of space. The Artemis III mission is anticipated to be the first crewed lunar landing of the Artemis program, with expectations to occur before the conclusion of the current presidential term.