For the first time in history, a rocket used to launch a payload into space has returned to Earth and landed upright on legs.
Blue Origin, the commercial spaceflight company founded in 2000 by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, achieved the first-of-its-kind feat on Monday (Nov. 23) at its West Texas launch site, located near the town of Van Horn. The New Shepard suborbital vehicle lifted off at 11:21 a.m. CST (1721 GMT). Its uncrewed capsule flew 62.5 miles high (100.5 km), just past the internationally-recognized boundary of space.
"Rockets have always been expendable," said Bezos in a statement posted on Blue Origin's website. "Not anymore. Now safely tucked away at our launch site in West Texas is the rarest of beasts, a used rocket."
randy Member
Posts: 2305 From: West Jordan, Utah USA Registered: Dec 1999
posted 11-24-2015 07:58 AM
Very cool. Maybe someday I'll be riding one of those.
spaced out Member
Posts: 3128 From: Paris, France Registered: Aug 2003
posted 11-24-2015 08:50 AM
Very impressive indeed but... well this is a family show so let's just say that they have to change the shape of that spacecraft.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 44739 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 11-24-2015 10:22 AM
Jeff Bezos was on CBS This Morning to discuss the flight:
issman1 Member
Posts: 1066 From: UK Registered: Apr 2005
posted 11-24-2015 11:20 AM
So does this mean Mr. Bezos and co have pre-empted Mr. Musk's ambitions?
Bit of a surprise, in light of the spectacular SpaceX setback, but about time it happened.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 44739 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 11-24-2015 11:26 AM
Depends on your definition of suborbital, apparently.
SpaceX has been conducting successful VTOL tests with its Grasshopper vehicles since 2013, a point Elon Musk pointed out this morning. McDonnell Douglas' DC-X "Delta Clipper" achieved the same before SpaceX or Blue Origin.
Blue Origin did succeed at safely landing the first booster that was used to launch a payload to space.
Musk and Bezos disagree about the differences between landing from a suborbital versus orbital flight.
SkyMan1958 Member
Posts: 927 From: CA. Registered: Jan 2011
posted 11-24-2015 04:55 PM
However you want to define it, I'm glad to see it happen. It's GREAT to see commercial space pushing the envelope.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 44739 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 11-24-2015 05:34 PM
Oh, absolutely. It's always fun to wake up and learn new space history has been made...
During a press call today, Bezos described it as such:
"I believe this is a new Golden Age of space exploration. The first Golden Age was the '60s. We have been treading water for a long time.
"We are on the verge of a new Golden Age in rocketry. I believe one day all rockets will have landing gear."
GACspaceguy Member
Posts: 2595 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
posted 11-24-2015 05:38 PM
A great day in spaceflight!
mode1charlie Member
Posts: 1220 From: Honolulu, HI Registered: Sep 2010
posted 11-24-2015 06:21 PM
Very cool. Phil Plait has a good essay on the tweet war between Bezos and Musk and the merits of their respective claims.
Ken Havekotte Member
Posts: 3097 From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard Registered: Mar 2001
posted 11-25-2015 09:52 PM
A great achievement for new commercial space endeavors as it was an incredible flight of Blue Origin's "New Shepard" from start to finish! It's certainly a giant leap forward in the private and commercial rocket transportation arena.
The industry has come a long way. Looking back to the 1980's, I can well remember (and even participated) in some of the first commercial rocket launch-flight test programs of Space Services Inc. of America, E'Prime Aerospace Corporation, among others.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 44739 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-03-2015 07:39 PM
What 400 very happy rocket scientists look like...
mercsim Member
Posts: 238 From: Phoenix, AZ Registered: Feb 2007
posted 12-04-2015 08:47 AM
That was totally awesome! Watching the people that worked on it get that excited was better than the landing.
posted 11-24-2015 07:38 AM
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