Booster Flown On Suborbital Test Lands Safely In The Texas Desert

Blue Origin announced Tuesday that its New Shepard space vehicle successfully flew to space, reaching its planned test altitude of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers) before executing an historic landing back at the launch site in West Texas on Monday.

In a news release, Blue Origin said the flight validates its vehicle architecture and design. The unique ring fin shifted the center of pressure aft to help control reentry and descent; eight large drag brakes deployed and reduced the vehicle’s terminal speed to 387 mph; hydraulically actuated fins steered the vehicle through 119-mph high-altitude crosswinds to a location precisely aligned with and 5,000 feet above the landing pad; then the highly-throttleable BE-3 engine re-ignited to slow the booster as the landing gear deployed and the vehicle descended the last 100 feet at 4.4 mph to touchdown on the pad.

"We are building Blue Origin to seed an enduring human presence in space, to help us move beyond this blue planet that is the origin of all we know," Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said in the release. "We are pursuing this vision patiently, step-by-step. Our fantastic team in Kent, Van Horn and Cape Canaveral is working hard not just to build space vehicles, but to bring closer the day when millions of people can live and work in space.

"Full reuse is a game changer, and we can’t wait to fuel up and fly again," he said.

"Congratulations to the whole Blue Origin team on today’s amazing accomplishment."

(Source: Blue Origin news release. Top image from Blue Origin video. Lower image provided with news release)

FMI: www.blueorigin.com/gallery