Bezos’ rocket venture, Blue Origin, showed that it can send a spacecraft aloft, then have it land vertically back on earth – a feat that SpaceX has been trying to achieve lately on a barge.
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It’s the second surprise test of Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule and launch vehicle this year, following a launch in April .
It also is the first time any rocket has gone to space, and then come back to Earth for a soft landing at a target landing site. “Full reuse is a game-changer, and we can’t wait it fuel up and fly again”. SpaceX has also tried to travel to outer space and return with an upright landing but the rockets have always toppled over on impact. This is a huge accomplishment for the approaching era of reusable rockets, which is expected to dramatically reduce the cost of spaceflight. The vehicle is comprised of two elements; a crew capsule in which the astronauts ride and a rocket booster powered by a single American-made BE-3 liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen engine.
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions. The top speed reached by New Shepard was over three times the speed of sound, the company said.
New Shepard isn’t their only project. The rocket technology will reportedly be used by NASA in launching future probes to other planets, and has the potential to make manned journeys to other planets, such as Mars, much more feasible.
Blue Origin developed the BE-3 engine that launches the New Shepard.
New Shepard climbed to an altitude of 329,839 feet, which is where the vehicle’s crew capsule is meant to detach.
The private spaceflight firm that has attracted the most attention to date has been SpaceX, owned by entrepreneur Elon Musk, the cofounder of Tesla, the electric vehicle firm.
But it was the rocket booster’s landing that prompted celebration at Blue Origin.
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“It is … important to clear up the difference between “space” and ‘orbit, ‘” he tweeted. What makes yesterday’s achievement by Blue Origin so notable isn’t the launch – it’s the landing.
