Blue Origin’s space vehicle, New Shepard, took flight yesterday in an unexpected test-launch.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ private space company sparked speculation in early April when President Rob Meyerson announced, “The engine is ready for flight.”
Earlier this week, Michael Graczyk of The Associated Press reported on the possible timeframe for the launch and wrote that the flight test could come late this year. Months ahead of this estimated schedule, Blue Origin test-launched New Shepard yesterday and revealed the test just this morning.
Although the company was not able to recover the propulsion module for reuse, it appears that the launch’s execution was impeccable. Bezos wrote on the company’s blog, “Our 110,000-lbf thrust liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen BE-3 engine worked flawlessly, powering New Shepard through Mach 3 to its planned test altitude of 307,000 feet.” A video of the launch and several more stunning photos are also available on the blog.
This launch is particularly exciting to the public, because Blue Origin’s primary goal is to commercialize space travel and make it available to more adventurous tourists.
Would you consider visiting space in a Blue Origin spaceship (after many more successful tests, that is)?
Comment below or tweet @MNetBridget.
