The space company launched its reusable rocket, New Shepard, for the ninth time as it performed flawlessly showing the capsule can successfully separate from the rocket in case of emergency.
The high-altitude escape motor test is designed to simulate what would happen if there was a problem with the launch vehicle during ascent. In today’s test, the rocket engines were pushed to their maximum. The escape motor on the crew capsule was fired successfully when the booster separated.
Once engaged, the crew capsule’s rockets were designed to provide 70,000 pounds of force to push it away from the main booster as quickly as possible midflight. This test, however, occurred at a higher altitude and “[pushed] the rocket to its limits.”
The crew capsule then sped up and reached the apogee of space before returning to Earth. Both the booster rocket and crew capsule made perfectly beautiful landings against the backdrop of a clear Texas sky.
Blue Origin’s crew capsule and booster
There were actual payloads onboard the crew capsule today. Besides Mannequin Skywalker, Blue Origin’s in-cabin dummy, the capsule also carried scientific experiments, including spacesuit material tests, WIFI access testing and a number of others.
Blue Origin has been developing the New Shepard rocket since 2003, just a few years after Jeff Bezos secretly formed Blue Origins. The first flew in 2015, landing unsuccessfully. A second New Shepard vehicle successfully flew six times. The third, which flew for the first time in April 2018, was used today.
Today’s successful test puts the space company one step closer to carrying a paying passenger into the wild blue yonder. According to Quartz, the company anticipates flying its first human test pilots this year, with commercial operations beginning sometime after that.
