I& #39;ve seen some "ho-hum" attitudes toward @blueorigin& #39;s upcoming 13th flight of New Shepard, on the 24th, at 15:00 UTC. I understand the frustration. Turtles and all that. But I still think New Shepard is a success and I& #39;m eager to track its future. Why?

They have moved slowly. There has been just a single flight in the last 16 months of the system! But they are attempting to go from cargo to humans, and that& #39;s a big leap. So it takes time to work through those issues you didn& #39;t have to worry about with experiments.

I think they& #39;re getting there. And we really will see human flights in the not-too-distant future. I credit Blue Origin for not putting out false promises, and sticking with their "we& #39;ll fly when it& #39;s ready mantra." They& #39;ve been working to make sure it& #39;s ready.

Now they may never make suborbital space tourism a mainstream thing, but if New Shepard works it is going to offer a fantastic experience at approximately 1/100th the cost of private ticket to space on an orbital spacecraft. That& #39;s a big cost reduction.

Finally, space tourism is just one aspect of New Shepard. The other part is that the company needed to learn how to fly, and develop a reusable rocket. By all appearances, that& #39;s just what they& #39;re learning so they can make a huge leap to New Glenn. So good luck tomorrow!