NS-27 will mark the debut of the second human-rated New Shepard vehicle, which consists of a first stage known as Booster 5 and a crew capsule named RSS Kármán Line. (The Kármán line is the 62-mile-high boundary that many people regard as the start of outer space.)

Blue Origin has had only one working New Shepard rocket booster since a 2022 explosion took out one of the two it had been using. A replacement booster along with a new crew-capable capsule is set to debut as early as Monday.

Blue Origin has confirmed the launch of a New Shepard flight on Monday. It will be a debut with a special cargo.

After an initial 3-hr. delay and three countdown holds, Blue Origin scrubbed plans for an Oct. 7 uncrewed first suborbital launch of its second human-rated New Shepard rocket with its previously unflown RSS Karman Line crew capsule from the company’s Launch Site One near Van Horn in East Texas.

Blue Origin is preparing to launch its NS-27 mission with the RSS Kármán Line, its new crew capsule, on Monday at 9AM ET. It will be the first launch for the capsule, which the company says in its announcement will have improved performance and reusability, along with “an updated livery, and accommodations for payloads on the booster.”