Blue Origin successfully launches New Shepard rocket for the sixth time in a row

The company plans has a few more spaceflights before they begin putting people on board.

|Dec 12, 2019, 10:09:24 IST

Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space company, has scored another successful spaceflight.

Blue Origin used the same rocket for the sixth time Wednesday in West Texas. The suborbital flight exposed the capsule and its contents — including NASA experiments, artwork and a commercial grapevine study — to more than three minutes of weightlessness.

The capsule reached a peak altitude of 104 kilometres, just above the official threshold for space. The New Shepard rocket landed vertically seven minutes after liftoff, followed by the capsule, which parachuted down to end the 10-minute flight.[caption id="attachment_7772221" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

Jeff Bezo's aerospace company Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket booster lands near Van Horn. Image credit: AP[/caption]“Welcome back, New Shepard. A beautiful launch to space and back,” said launch commentator Ariane Cornell, director of the astronaut and orbital sales. “We can’t wait to do it again.”

Cornell said the company plans another couple of spaceflights before putting people on board. The craft has the biggest windows ever built into a spacecraft.

Earlier this year, Blue Origin said it aimed to fly passengers by the end of 2019. This was the company’s 12th test flight and the third this year.

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