Since the crash a year ago
Blue Origin sends rocket into space again
December 19, 2023, 8:52 p.m
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Blue Origin is successfully returning to the space business: Amazon boss Jeff Bezos’ company is flying into space again for the first time since a false start more than a year ago. These are good signs. Finally, a first flight with a heavy-lift rocket is planned for next year.
More than a year after a crash, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin has successfully sent a rocket into space for the first time. A live broadcast showed the New Shepard rocket lifting off from the private spaceport in the state of Texas at 10:43 a.m. local time.
After separating from the engine, the space capsule rose to an altitude of 107 kilometers above sea level. The engine then landed on the launch pad as planned, followed a few minutes later by the capsule, which floated to the ground on three gigantic parachutes. “There it is, touchdown for NS-24,” said a live commentator.
The successful start marks the return to business for Blue Origin. A New Shepard rocket crashed in September last year. According to an investigation report, the engine had previously overheated. After corrective actions, Blue Origin finally received approval for rocket launches again.
Blue Origin competes with Virgin Galactic
The company has already taken 31 people into space on short suborbital flights with the New Shepard rocket, including several well-paying space tourists and company founder Bezos himself. Blue Origin is competing with Virgin Galactic, the space company owned by British billionaire Richard Branson. Blue Origin is also working on a new heavy-lift rocket called New Glenn, whose first flight is planned for next year.
While the New Shepard rocket can only manage suborbital flights, the 98 meter New Glenn rocket is said to be able to carry up to 45 tons of cargo into low Earth orbit. Blue Origin can boast that almost all parts of the rocket, including engines, space capsule, landing gear and parachutes, are recycled. It is also powered by liquid oxygen and hydrogen, so no carbon emissions are released.