Blue Origin's Latest Rocket Test Flight Carries NASA Experiments

Blue Origin – a privately funded aerospace corporation founded by Jeff Bezos – successfully performed an uncrewed test flight on its rocket, New Shepard. The event marked the tenth time the corporation has successfully sent its reusable rocket into space and retrieve it. The fact that the rocket hauled eight development and research experiments from NASA makes the experiment truly exceptional.

The reusable New Shepard was launched into space on 23rd January 2019, which marked that milestone of its 10th test flight. The test flight was commenced at 10:05 AM in Eastern Standard Time at Blue Origin’s West Texas test site. The journey was brief, which lasted exactly 10 minutes and 15 seconds. The rocket was uncrewed, which carried at least eight NASA-sponsored experiments to the suborbital and back to earth, reaching the altitude of 107 kilometers, according to Blue Origin officials. And it also marked the rocket’s fourth flight.

Blue Origin’s director of astronaut and orbital sales – Ariane Cornell – stated that the test flight was successful. And it is obviously a good sign for the company, as the company is planning to carry out a launch with human-passengers before the end of the year. However, crewed launches have been the topic of the company for quite a time now, and it seems that the topic has not yet to be delivered. It was the company’s goal to conduct a crewed flight earlier in 2017 and would be ready for commercial purposes in 2018, however, we only see the former complete this year.

Blue Origin’s founder, the multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos, aims to fly paying passengers abroad New Shepard, however, the company has not begun selling their tickets or announced how much it will cost for a person to buy a seat. As the New Shepard is being developed further and further, it is Blue Origin’s final aim to help millions of people to finally live and work in space.