If New Shepard was a testbed for flying, reusing and refurbishing rockets, then it’s sort of unnecessary now that New Glenn is up and flying. The space tourism angle was a way to monetize Shepard. The engineers involved can now be put to work on the next gen crew capsule and orbital tourism experience. Both of which will contribute to their lunar plans and the Artemis program.
New Shepard also did some uncrewed flights for microgravity research payloads. It had a longer weightless period than the Vomit Comet. That seems like the main value that will be lost, but the cost and staff had to be really tough to justify.
If New Shepard was a testbed for flying, reusing and refurbishing rockets, then it’s sort of unnecessary now that New Glenn is up and flying. The space tourism angle was a way to monetize Shepard. The engineers involved can now be put to work on the next gen crew capsule and orbital tourism experience. Both of which will contribute to their lunar plans and the Artemis program.
New Shepard also did some uncrewed flights for microgravity research payloads. It had a longer weightless period than the Vomit Comet. That seems like the main value that will be lost, but the cost and staff had to be really tough to justify.