Blue Origin pauses suborbital tourism program as it shifts toward lunar exploration

Blue Origin announced on January 30 that it will suspend flights of its New Shepard suborbital spacecraft for at least two years as the company shifts its priorities toward human lunar exploration.

In a statement, the company said operations of New Shepard — which has completed 38 missions since 2015 — will be paused in order to concentrate on its lunar initiatives. Blue Origin specified that the suspension would last “not less than two years.”

“The decision reflects Blue Origin’s commitment to the nation’s goal of returning to the moon and establishing a permanent, sustained lunar presence,” the company said.

The announcement came just eight days after the latest New Shepard mission, NS-38, which carried five paying passengers along with one Blue Origin employee who stepped in after a sixth customer fell ill prior to launch. The mission followed the vehicle’s standard flight profile, and the company provided no indication during the webcast that a suspension of operations was imminent.

Following that flight, Phil Joyce, Blue Origin’s senior vice president for New Shepard, had said the company was focused on continuing to offer “transformational experiences” to customers using the proven and reliable suborbital vehicle.

“As we enter 2026, we’re focused on continuing to deliver transformational experiences for our customers through the proven capability and reliability of New Shepard,” Joyce said at the time.

Only four months earlier, Joyce had outlined plans to expand, rather than halt, New Shepard operations. Speaking at a spaceport conference in Sydney, Australia, he said Blue Origin intended to increase the launch rate to an “approximately weekly” schedule over the coming years, supported by additional spacecraft and potential operations from sites beyond Launch Site One in West Texas.

“The demand is really strong,” Joyce said during the conference. “We’re continuing to see sales every week, every day.”

Despite the announced pause, Blue Origin noted in its January 30 statement that it still has a “multi-year customer backlog” for New Shepard flights.

The company did not provide details on how resources from the New Shepard program would be redirected toward lunar projects, nor did it say whether the suspension would have any impact on its workforce.

By Tamilla Hasanova