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Blue Origin just launched and landed its suborbital rocket New Shepard — the same vehicle the company flew and then landed in November. The booster reached a maximum altitude of 333,582 feet, or 63 miles, above the Earth's surface, before landing gently back at Blue Origin's test facility in Texas. That makes it the first commercial vertical rocket to launch into space a second time.
To get the rocket flight ready again, Blue Origin had to make a few modifications to it first. The company replaced the parachutes in the crew capsule — the passenger vehicle that sits on top of the rocket. The crew capsule detaches from the rest of the rocket body in space, and the parachutes help it to land safely back on ground again. Blue Origin said that it also replaced New Shepard's pyro igniters and updated its software. A lot of inspections were needed to make sure the rocket was ready.
originally posted by: DuckforcoveR
I know it's not a "him vs. him" thread, but having been at the edge of my seat the last few SpaceX tries, I have to say congrats. This last one I had the little ones gathered around the CPU to watch the ocean pod landing and the satellite uplink got cut seconds before the rocket landed (and exploded....) on deck of "read the instructions".
Long story short, good on Blue Origin. I could care less who does better so long as the Private Sector continues this. In my honest opinion, it couldn't be a better time to be a space spectator. NASA had its' day, but even they basically said "wait, you need glasses? you'll never fly in space"
originally posted by: Caughtlurking
a reply to: wildespace
Patience.
These things aren't easy, nor are they cheap; in talent or money. If and when they make this commercially available and even remotely expensive they're going to have to be 100% positive that it's going to work safely. Anyone dies early on in this and it's going to set programs back or end them permanently.