VAN HORN, Tex. - Blue Origin's New Shepard space vehicle has successfully flew to space, reaching a planned test altitude of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers) before executing a landing back at the launch site in West Texas. This is the first time a commercial company has successfully landed a rocket.
According to Blue Origin, the rocket is now safely tucked away at its West Texas launch site after the November 23, 2015 flight. The vehicle reached a top speed of Mach 3.72. While in flight it tested deployment of the crew capsule drogue parachutes.
Blue Origin says that during flight, the New Shepard's 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.
Blue Origin is one of a group of companies working to develop rockets that can carry paying passengers into space. The company's two primary competitors are XCOR Aerospace and Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic suffered a serious setback last year when one of its SpaceShipTwo spacecraft crashed during a test flight, killing one of its pilots. With the successful flight, Blue Origin may have pulled ahead of its competitors in technical development.
The company has yet to reserve seats. Interested people can sign up for updates on Blue Origin's website, but cannot book a ticket. Virgin Galactic is currently selling tickets on its SpaceShipTwo for $250,000, while XCOR is booking tickets on its Lynx for $95,000.
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