Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin, the stealthy company, has successfully launched a reusable New Shepard spacecraft on a test flight of its tourism rocket as it moves inches close towards sending human tourists into space.
The rocket was launched on Wednesday from a Blue Origin’s test site located in Texas. It soared over 60 miles into the upper atmosphere.
“This mission was another step towards verifying New Shepard for human spaceflight as we continue to mature the safety and reliability of the vehicle,” Blue Origin said in a statement.
As per NASA Spaceflight (nasaspaceflight.com) this was the 12th total test flight of the fully autonomous rocket and spacecraft system called, New Shepard, and the 3rd such flight in the year 2019. ‘It could be one of the last before Bezos-owned company gear up to start sending tourists,’ stated CNN.
This launch also marked the ninth test flight that had operational payload vehicle for several flights, meaning there are no more updates to the system.
“This was also the 9th commercial payload mission for New Shepard, and we are proud to be have flown our 100th customer on board,” said Blue Origin.
New Shepard is a reusable vertical takeoff, vertical landing space vehicle, consisting of a pressurized capsule atop a booster.
The capsule is designed to carry up to six wealthy tourists on suborbital space flights for science and tourism. The New Shepard space capsule features giant windows to allow the passengers to enjoy the stunning view of the space.
(With input from agencies)