Blue Origin launches, lands the same rocket for the fourth time

Blue Origin has just completed its riskiest rocket test yet, and it looked pretty good.

It too is reusable and returns to earth “under parachutes for a smooth landing in the same way as the earliest space pioneers”, according to the Blue Origin website.

The New Shepard vehicle consists of a capsule for passengers or cargo, and a reusable rocket booster.

On Sunday morning, Blue Origin plans to continue pushing the capabilities of its New Shepard launch system, as well as the boundaries of the company’s own transparency. The company is also working on the 550,000-pound-thrust BE-4 rocket engine as the leading candidate to power the first stage of United Launch Alliance’s future Vulcan launcher.

For Sunday’s test flight, the spacecraft’s flight computer was programmed to deploy just two parachute strings to make sure passengers can safely land despite a parachute malfunction. The capsule and the rocket split after takeoff and landed separately.

Bezos, who founded Amazon.com, and billionaire Elon Musk both want to reduce the cost of space exploration by building rockets that are reusable like airplanes. The smaller Blue Origin rockets would be used to bring tourists to the edge of space for a few minutes of weightlessness. During the 10-minute flight the rocket and spacecraft performed as anticipated, and the New Shepard capsule made a reasonably soft landing given that one of its three parachutes intentionally failed. Nearing the landing side, the BE-3 reignited, four landing legs deployed and the booster settled to a smooth touchdown near the center of the landing pad.

A larger chute was released seconds before the capsule landed, stabilizing it.

Blue Origin will find out what happens to an uncrewed capsule if two of three parachutes fail.

“It’s going to be an absolutely mind-blowing experience”, said Ariane Cornell, a business development executive at Blue Origin and the other co-host. “Successful mission”, Bezos wrote on Twitter after the launch that included a photo of its “lucky” cowboy boots, which carry Blue Origin’s motto “Gradatim Ferociter”, Latin for “Step by step, ferociously”.