Aerospace rocket developer Blue Origin successfully launches its New Shepard rocket in West Texas. Not only has the rocket reached a 100-kilometer altitude, it also landed back safely.
Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos has been investing some of his money on space ideas. The investments have now flourished to a rocket company named Blue Origin.
On Nov. 30, the rocket company made history as it has successfully launched a rocket named New Shepard reaching an altitude of 100.5 kilometers, which is considered as the beginning of exiting Earth's atmosphere. The rocket is supposed to carry commercial passengers to outer space and makes its way back to Earth with the use of parachutes. As the rocket went its way up, it also successfully made its way down as it turned around and fired up its engines while on the way back and landing magnificently on the launch pad.
According to Bezos, the flight has been totally nominal. Nevertheless, the team has shed tears of joy for the project's success in taking off and landing.
Going back to April 2015, the company had its first test flight. The aim was to successfully launch a rocket that reaches outer space and eventually landing it safely back. In that event, the take-off was fruitful and the capsule's landing was flawless. However, the rocket boosters have crashed due to a hydraulic system failure.
Bezos added that this was only the beginning of the experiment, and the company's rocket engineers have already made adjustments to the hydraulic system errors and that the next test flight should just be a matter of weeks.
Blue Origin's goal is to provide affordable commercial flights to outer space. But the company has not started selling tickets for future flights or has decided a price for a flight ticket to space.
Like Blue Origin, another startup rocket company known as SpaceX is betting on reusable rocket technology, which in the future can cut the costs of space travels. Most rockets are only used once. They crash back to Earth after their fueling systems are exhausted. This causes space trash, and chemicals from the rockets harm Earth's atmosphere. With reusable rockets, not only will it cut space travel costs but also avoid hazards from spreading in space and on Earth.
