Space tourism comes one step closer with Blue Origin rocket launch

Space tourism is one step closer with the successful launch and landing of a suborbital vehicle early Monday morning.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard space vehicle. Image by blueorigin.com

Blue Origin, the space flight company owned by Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos, launched their New Shepard rocket 100kms into space and then, amazingly, landed it. It is the first time a reusable rocket has successfully landed on the ground following a space flight.

The company released a video of the rocket’s incredible journey. Watch video here: https://www.blueorigin.com/

In the video, the rocket can be seen flying across the sky and releasing the New Shepard capsule. In the past, the used rocket would crash back to Earth, unable to be used again. Not so the New Shepard. The video shows the carefully controlled landing, in which the rocket gently touched down just 1.3m from the centre of the launch pad.

For Bezos, who is passionate about space travel, the successful test flight was a triumph. “Here in mission control in West Texas, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” Bezos said in a press briefing on Tuesday. “It was one of the greatest moments of my life.”

Blue Origin’s New Shepard space vehicle rolls out to the launch pad in West Texas. Image by Blue Origin.

Bezos believes reusable rockets are crucial to making space tourism affordable in the future. “The reason that space travel is so expensive is because we throw this expensive, aerospace-grade rocketry away after every use,” Bezos explained. “And so the Holy Grail of rocketry, to make it less expensive, is full reusability.”

Blue Origin;s New Sheapard space vehicle at the launch site in West Texas. Image by Blue Origin.

The New Shepard, named after astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, is designed to eventually take up to six people on a sub-orbital adventure.