Reusable rocket by Blue Origin makes successful launch and landing in Texas

Elon Musk is not the only one who owns a private space exploration company working on reusable rockets. That’s evident from yesterday’s successful mission by Blue Origin. Owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin completed its fourth successful mission where its unmanned rocket, New Shephard, was launched and landed to safety in Texas on Sunday, 19 June. The company also ran its first-ever live webcast of the test flight where the rocket carrying the space capsule was launched into the skies at 10:36 am EDT. It went into suborbital space and returned back to earth in two separate landings. The rocket reached a peak altitude of 331,501 feet which is 101 kilometers which is just above the boundary between Earth and space. The capsule carried three parachutes although it only needs one parachute to land safely. The main aim of the test was to monitor how the craft would handle a two-chute landing. https://twitter.com/JeffBezos/status/743802731924594688 According to Blue Origin, New Shepard is not meant to enter Earth’s orbit but it has been designed to fly up to six people into suborbital space, with the capsule returning via parachutes while its booster lands vertically safely back on Earth. The company plans to use this as way to promote space tourism by selling tickets and taking customers for a quick ride. These trips will allow passengers to experience several minutes of weightlessness and be able to see the Earth from space through a large window in the capsule.