Editing Blue Origin (section)

== Early test vehicles ==

=== Charon ===
[[File:Blue Origin Charon Test Vehicle - Flickr - brewbooks.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|''Charon'' on display at the [[Museum of Flight]] in Seattle, Washington.]]
The company's first flight test vehicle, called ''[[Charon (moon)|Charon]]'' after [[Pluto]]'s moon,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boyle |first=Alan |title=Amazon.com billionaire's 5-ton flying jetpack lands in Seattle museum |url=http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/05/24/11862569-amazoncom-billionaires-5-ton-flying-jetpack-lands-in-seattle-museum?lite |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203081705/http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/05/24/11862569-amazoncom-billionaires-5-ton-flying-jetpack-lands-in-seattle-museum?lite |archive-date=February 3, 2017 |access-date=February 2, 2017 |website=NBC News}}</ref> was powered by four vertically mounted [[Armstrong Siddeley Viper|Rolls-Royce Viper Mk. 301]] jet engines rather than rockets. The low-altitude vehicle was developed to test autonomous guidance and control technologies, and the processes that the company would use to develop its later rockets. ''Charon'' made its only test flight at Moses Lake, Washington on March 5, 2005. It flew to an altitude of {{Cvt|316|ft||order=flip}} before returning for a controlled landing near the liftoff point.<ref name="Blue Origin Charon Test Vehicle">{{Cite web |title=Blue Origin Charon Test Vehicle |url=http://www.museumofflight.org/aircraft/charon-test-vehicle |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130324015036/http://www.museumofflight.org/aircraft/charon-test-vehicle |archive-date=March 24, 2013 |access-date=March 4, 2013 |publisher=The Museum of Flight}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Blue Origin's Original Charon Flying Vehicle Goes on Display at The Museum of Flight |url=http://www.museumofflight.org/news/blue-origins-original-charon-flying-vehicle-goes-display-museum-flight |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328144750/http://www.museumofflight.org/news/blue-origins-original-charon-flying-vehicle-goes-display-museum-flight |archive-date=March 28, 2013 |access-date=March 4, 2013 |publisher=The Museum of Flight}}</ref> As of 2016, Charon is on display at the [[Museum of Flight]] in Seattle, Washington.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Blue Origin Charon Test Vehicle |url=http://www.museumofflight.org/aircraft/charon-test-vehicle |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130324015036/http://www.museumofflight.org/aircraft/charon-test-vehicle |archive-date=March 24, 2013 |access-date=August 6, 2016 |publisher=Museum of Flight}}</ref>

=== Goddard ===
The next test vehicle, named ''[[Blue Origin Goddard|Goddard]]'' (also known as PM1), first flew on November 13, 2006. The flight was successful. A test flight for December 2 never launched.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boyle |first=Alan |date=November 28, 2006 |title=Blue Origin Rocket Report |url=http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/11/28/16017.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415154004/http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/11/28/16017.aspx |archive-date=April 15, 2008 |access-date=May 28, 2008 |publisher=[[MSNBC]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Boyle |first=Alan |date=December 2, 2006 |title=Blue Alert For Blastoff |url=http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/12/02/16849.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080507171757/http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/12/02/16849.aspx |archive-date=May 7, 2008 |access-date=May 28, 2008 |publisher=[[MSNBC]]}}</ref> According to [[Federal Aviation Administration]] records, two further flights were performed by Goddard.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Launches |url=https://www.faa.gov/data_research/commercial_space_data/launches/?type=Permitted |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421174346/https://www.faa.gov/data_research/commercial_space_data/launches/?type=Permitted |archive-date=April 21, 2019 |access-date=April 4, 2019 |website=www.faa.gov |language=en-us}}</ref> Blue Engine 1, or BE-1, was the first rocket engine developed by the company and was used in the company's [[Blue Origin Goddard|Goddard]] development vehicle.

=== PM2 ===
Another early suborbital test vehicle, PM2, had two flight tests in 2011 in west Texas. The vehicle designation may be short for "Propulsion Module".<ref name="nsj20110902">{{Cite web |title=Blue Origin has a bad day (and so do some of the media) |url=http://www.newspacejournal.com/2011/09/02/blue-origin-has-a-bad-day-and-so-do-some-of-the-media/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126001453/http://www.newspacejournal.com/2011/09/02/blue-origin-has-a-bad-day-and-so-do-some-of-the-media/ |archive-date=January 26, 2012 |access-date=September 3, 2011}}</ref> The first flight was a short hop (low altitude, VTVL takeoff and landing mission) flown on May 6, 2011. The second flight, August 24, 2011, failed when ground personnel lost contact and control of the vehicle. The company released its analysis of the failure nine days later. As the vehicle reached a speed of [[Mach number|Mach]] 1.2 and {{convert|14|km|ft|abbr=on}} altitude, a "flight instability drove an [[angle of attack]] that triggered [the] [[Range Safety and Telemetry System|range safety system]] to terminate thrust on the vehicle". The vehicle was lost.<ref name="PM2">{{cite news |date=September 12, 2011 |title=Blue Origin Acknowledges Test Flight Failure |publisher=Space News |url=https://spacenews.com/blue-origin-acknowledges-test-flight-failure/ |access-date=November 3, 2022 |archive-date=July 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230717232705/https://spacenews.com/blue-origin-acknowledges-test-flight-failure/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Blue Engine 2, or BE-2, was a [[turbopump|pump-fed]] bipropellant engine burning [[RP-1|kerosene]] and [[High-test peroxide|peroxide]] which produced {{convert|31000|lbf|kN||abbr=on|order=flip}} of thrust.<ref name="BlueEngines">{{Cite web |title=Blue Origin Engines |url=https://www.blueorigin.com/engines |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140938/https://www.blueorigin.com/engines |archive-date=June 12, 2018 |access-date=May 15, 2018 |publisher=Blue Origin}}</ref><ref name="BlueEngineChart">{{Cite tweet|number=972501472440213504|user=jeff_foust|title=Rob Meyerson shows this chart of the various engines Blue Origin has developed and the vehicle that have used, or will use, them. #spaceexploration|date=March 10, 2018}}</ref> Five BE-2 engines powered the company's PM-2 development vehicle on two test flights in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Krebs |first=Gunter |date=April 29, 2018 |title=New Shepard |url=http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau_fam/new-shepard.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516015221/http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau_fam/new-shepard.htm |archive-date=May 16, 2018 |access-date=May 15, 2018 |website=Gunter's Space Page}}</ref>