A Blue Origin New Shepard spacecraft — the vehicle Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is developing to carry tourists on sub-orbital rides into space —rocketed away from Texas early Wednesday and then fired its abort motor to quickly push the capsule away in a high-altitude test of its safety systems. The roomy capsule, packed with experiments and an instrumented test dummy known as Mannequin Skywalker, rapidly shot away atop a brilliant jet of flame and 70,000 pounds of thrust, demonstrating the quick-response safety system will work if needed, regardless of the altitude. Two successful abort tests were carried out earlier, one from ground level in 2012 and a second at mid-level altitudes during a 2016 test flight. Wednesday's flight tested the system at high altitude, just after the booster's BE-3 engine shut down following a smooth climb out of the thick lower atmosphere. During the 2016 test, ignition of the escape motor did not noticeably affect the reusable booster, which continued to fire before shutting down normally and falling back to Earth for a rocket-powered upright landing. Likewise during Wednesday's flight, the booster appeared to behave normally despite the sudden rush of exhaust and the powerful thrust of the abort motor. The rocket chalked up a seemingly flawless launch and then fell back to Earth, re-starting its hydrogen-fueled BE-3 main engine, deploying four landing legs and settling to a picture-perfect touchdown on a circular pad. The reusable New Shepard rocket settles to a picture-perfect touchdown. Blue Origin The capsule, meanwhile, climbed to a maximum altitude of around 393,000 feet — more than 74 miles — subjecting an instrumented test dummy — "Mannequin Skywalker" — to about 10 times the force of gravity during the brief abort motor firing, which pushed the craft about 50,000 feet higher than a normal flight. After that, the capsule's experiments enjoyed about five minutes of weightlessness as the spacecraft arced over at the top of its trajectory before plunging back into the discernible atmosphere. Moments later, small drogue parachutes deployed to slow and stabilize the capsule before three huge blue-and-orange chutes unfurled to lower the spacecraft to a gentle landing. "Anything could have happened today, and this is the best possible outcome," said Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin's launch commentator. "Mannequin had a smooth, smooth landing." Blue Origin has now tested its powerful escape system at low, mid level and high altitudes, building confidence the spacecraft and its eventual passengers can, in fact, survive a catastrophic in-fight booster failure. With its booster on its landing pad in the background, the New Shepard crew capsule descends to touchdown after its dramatic test flight. Blue Origin The solid-fuel "pusher" abort motor, built by Aerojet Rocketdyne with subsystems provided by Blue Origin, is designed to quickly ignite on command from flight controllers or an on-board computer if safety software detects an impending booster malfunction, rapidly propelling the capsule and its crew away from the rocket with a jarring burst of acceleration. It is a so-called "full envelope" abort system, meaning it is designed to operate in all phases of flight, from ground level to high altitudes and any point in between. Unlike NASA's Mercury and Apollo spacecraft, which jettisoned their escape rockets before reaching orbit, Blue Origin's is built into the capsule. After a successful launch, it will be available for use on the capsule's next flight. Bezos is developing the reusable New Shepard rocket and capsule to carry up to six space tourists, researchers and/or experiments on brief sub-orbital flights out of the discernible atmosphere to altitudes just above 100 kilometers — 62 miles — the generally accepted "boundary" of space. Strapped into reclining seats at launch, the New Shepard passengers will be able to unstrap and briefly float about the cabin near the top of its trajectory when they will experience five to six minutes of weightlessness and enjoy the view from the largest windows ever built into an operational spacecraft. Piloted test flights are expected to start later this year, but no target dates have been announced. It's also not yet known how much Blue Origin plans to charge for rides in a New Shepard capsule. The Reuters news agency, quoting an unnamed source, recently reported that tickets were expected to initially cost between $200,000 and $300,000, making it competitive with rides aboard the winged spaceplane Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic is developing. But Blue Origin officials have not announced pricing or when tickets might go on sale. "We haven't started selling tickets yet for the trip to space," said Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin's launch commentator. "We haven't set a price. We haven't released those details. It's coming, but we've got our eye on the prize, and we've got to make sure we understand our system through and through. That means understanding everything that's necessary for human spaceflight, including the escape system." But if all goes well, she said, "it's going to be a sweet ride." For Wednesday's flight, the spacecraft was loaded with a variety of experiments, including instrumentation provided by NASA to measure pressure, acoustics, acceleration and other factors, a WiFi experiment, a study of how fine particles interact in random collisions and another NASA experiment to learn more about how water droplets behave in microgravity. Other experiments included one to measure magnetic fields inside the capsule and another to test a vibration isolation platform that could be used by future payloads to further reduce vibrations for "higher precision microgravity studies." One payload, called "Fly My Stuff," included personal items supplied by company employees. Along with the suborbital New Shepard rockets and spacecraft, Blue Origin also is developing a powerful new engine, the BE-4, to help boost satellites into orbit using much larger New Glenn rockets. Blue Origin has completed a sprawling rocket factory near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to build New Glenn rockets and is developing a launch pad at the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The New Glenn will compete with United Launch Alliance's upcoming Vulcan rocket and with SpaceX boosters in the U.S. launch market.<doc-sep>As Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos watched, his Blue Origin space venture sent its reusable New Shepard spaceship to its highest-ever altitude today during a successful test of a rocket motor that’s meant to be used only in emergencies. The climax of the uncrewed test flight came shortly after New Shepard’s capsule separated from its booster and switched on its 70,000-pound-thrust escape rocket motor. As planned, the high-altitude firing pushed the capsule past the boundary of outer space, to an unofficial maximum altitude of 389,846 feet, or 119 kilometers. Maximum ascent velocity was listed at 2,236 mph. Then both the booster and the capsule made picture-perfect landings back at Blue Origin’s West Texas test site, within sight of the launch pad. The entire mission lasted 11 minutes and 17 seconds. “Anything could have happened today, and this is the best possible outcome,” launch commentator Ariane Cornell said. A sensor-equipped test dummy nicknamed Mannequin Skywalker sat in one of the capsule’s seats. More than half a dozen scientific payloads were packed inside as well, plus mementos from Blue Origin employees that were included as part of an internal “Fly My Stuff” program. Mannequin Skywalker had a smooth landing, Cornell reported. “Just another day at the office,” she said. Later, in a tweet, Bezos said the capsule looked “great even after it was pushed hard by the escape test.” “Astronauts would have had an exhilarating ride and safe landing,” he said. He also touted his lucky boots, which are embossed with Blue Origin’s motto (“Gradatim Ferociter,” Latin for “Step by Step, Ferociously”) and have been worn during previous flight tests: Crew Capsule looks great even after it was pushed hard by the escape test. Astronauts would have had an exhilarating ride and safe landing. Great engineering and the lucky boots worked again @BlueOrigin #GradatimFerociter pic.twitter.com/ireJ3rWEvs — Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) July 18, 2018 The escape rocket motor is built into the crew capsule to provide a backup plan in case something goes wrong with New Shepard’s booster. In the event of an emergency, the rocket would light up to push the capsule and its crew out of harm’s way (although the acceleration of up to 10 G’s would make for a rough ride). Blue Origin tested the motor at a lower altitude during a memorable flight back in October 2016, but the company’s engineers wanted to make sure that the system would work as well at a higher altitude, where the atmosphere thins out to near-nothingness. To keep the booster from being blasted, Blue Origin programmed the capsule to make a clean separation to a distance of several hundred feet before the escape rocket motor fired up. As hoped, the capsule was able to stabilize itself after the blast for its descent through the atmosphere. Cornell said the test was an “important step in our march toward flying humans in space.” Today’s mission marked the ninth flight test for the New Shepard spaceship, and the third up-and-down round trip for the same capsule and booster. The hardware used in previous tests has been retired and put on exhibit at Blue Origin’s Florida rocket factory, where the orbital-class New Glenn rocket will be built. The company’s Florida team was watching today’s webcast, as was the team at Blue Origin’s headquarters in Kent, Wash., where New Shepard hardware is manufactured. Blue Origin is expected to conduct several more uncrewed tests in the months ahead, leading up to the first flight with Blue Origin’s test astronauts. That first crewed flight could take place before the end of the year. Eventually, up to six passengers at a time could get on board the New Shepard spaceship, which flies under autonomous control. Although some reports suggest the price of a ticket could be in the $200,000-to-$300,000 range, Blue Origin says no price has yet been set and no reservations are yet being taken. “It’s coming,” said Cornell, who’s in charge of astronaut sales as well as launch commentary. “But we’ve got our eyes on the prize.” Update for 6 p.m. PT July 18: Hours after the test flight, Bezos acknowledged a shout-out from Vice President Mike Pence, who chairs the National Space Council: Appreciate the support, Mr. Vice President. I’m thrilled to report from West Texas that the team nailed it today #launchlandrepeat https://t.co/yiIB7zTtde — Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) July 19, 2018 Meanwhile, Blue Origin tweeted a behind-the-scenes video clip recapping Bezos’ pre-launch pep talk, the mission and the post-launch check on the capsule: An inside look at the Flight Readiness Review leading up to a successful Mission 9 #nevergetsold pic.twitter.com/0FHbBjV8Jt — Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 19, 2018 “This flight is getting us so close to putting humans in space,” Bezos could be heard saying. “It’s a really important flight from that point of view.” In a follow-up tweet, Bezos passed along the clip and said he was “super proud of the entire Blue team who came together and made it happen.”<doc-sep>Today (July 18), Blue Origin launched its New Shepard suborbital space vehicle for the ninth time, during an uncrewed test to "push the rocket to its limits." The launch was scheduled for 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) but was delayed an hour for reasons the company did not disclose. The launch also went into a brief hold 8 minutes before New Shepard — a reusable rocket-capsule duo — was due to take off from a pad at Blue Origin's West Texas test site. Today's mission was designed to test the high-altitude escape motor of New Shepard's crew capsule, said representatives of Blue Origin, which is run by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. [Photos: New Shepard's December 2017 Test Flight] "On Mission 9, were firing the crew capsule escape motor at the highest altitude ever. We are stressing the rocket to test that astronauts can get away from an anomaly at any time during flight," the company said in a statement yesterday (July 17). See more During the launch, Blue Origin engineers were looking for the "red line" on that system, company spokesperson Ariane Cornell said on a webcast during the run-up to the launch, comparing it to the high-stress tests that cars and airplanes undergo before being put on sale. "At Blue Origin, we're all about safety," she said. "That's where we're keeping our focus today." The test required sending the capsule up to between 390,000 and 400,000 feet (roughly 120 kilometers) and then waiting for about 20 seconds for the booster to clear, ensuring that its exhaust wouldn't interfere with the capsule test. "We're going to be firing it in the vacuum of space for the first time," Cornell said. "We've never done this before." See more New Shepard performed as expected during today's flight, appearing to ace the test, Cornell said. Both the booster and the capsule landed safely less than 12 minutes after liftoff, the latter touching down softly on the desert floor under parachutes, sending up a plume of dust. During the test flight, the rocket was loaded up with both the Blue Origin test dummy — nicknamed Mannequin Skywalker, which took its third flight to space today — and a host of science payloads. Those experiments touch on topics like using Wi-Fi in space, modeling cosmic dust clouds, monitoring conditions within the capsule and protecting payloads from vibrations during the flight, according to the company's statement before the launch. The previous New Shepard launch, which took place in April, was delayed by weather but otherwise went smoothly, with the rocket reaching almost 66 miles (107 km) and the flight lasting just over 10 minutes, according to the company's reports. The New Shepard program is designed to carry tourists, commercial payloads and scientific experiments on brief trips to suborbital space. According to Blue Origin's launch coverage, the next New Shepard in production will have a fully fitted customer capsule. Editor's Note: This article was corrected to clarify that the next capsule in production will have the upgrade, not the next capsule to launch. Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.<doc-sep>Blue Origin launched its New Shepard rocket on Wednesday for the ninth time in what the company said was a successful flight. New Shepard — named after the first American in space, Alan Shepard — launched vertically from the company's facility near Van Horn, Texas. Blue Origin, which was founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, wants to offer tourists a ride to space, bringing passengers in a capsule up past 350,000 feet, where they would spend about 10 minutes floating in zero gravity before returning back to Earth. The flight was "a high altitude escape motor test," which the company said would push New Shepard "to its limits" to make sure that astronauts can get away from the rocket if there is any problem during flight, also known as an abort test. Inside the capsule, which sits on top of the rocket, was Blue Origin's test dummy named "Mannequin Skywalker" – as well as payloads for gathering data from NASA, companies and universities. The abort test happened in the vacuum of space and pushed the capsule to nearly 390,000 feet, according to preliminary data from the flight. "Mannequin Skywalker" experienced about 10 times the force of gravity during the abort test, as the capsule flung itself away from the rocket.<doc-sep>
Update July 18th, 11:35AM ET: Blue Origin pulled off another successful test launch today, landing both the New Shepard rocket and capsule after flight. The company ignited the capsule’s emergency motor after it had separated from the rocket, pushing the spacecraft up to a top altitude of around 74 miles — a new record for Blue Origin. The firing also caused the capsule to sustain up to 10 Gs during the test, but Blue Origin host Ariane Cornell said “that is well within what humans can take, especially for such a short spurt of time.” This morning, Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin will attempt the ninth test flight of its sub-orbital rocket, the New Shepard — a reusable vehicle designed to take tourists to the edge of space and back. And for this launch, the company will be testing out the vehicle’s escape motor once again. That’s the system that could help save the lives of future passengers if something were to go wrong during the climb through Earth’s atmosphere. Like most vertical rockets, the New Shepard is designed to take off upright from a launchpad at Blue Origin’s facilities in West Texas. Perched on top of the vehicle is a capsule for crew members, which the rocket carries skyward during flight. Once the New Shepard reaches an altitude of around 62 miles — what’s often considered the edge of space — the capsule and rocket separate. If passengers were on board, that’s when they would experience a few minutes of weightlessness. Then, both the capsule and rocket fall back to Earth. Parachutes deploy to gently land the capsule, while the rocket reignites its engine to land upright on the ground. Testing the system that could help save the lives of future passengers if something were to go wrong However, operations will be a little different on this test flight. Blue Origin will be igniting the escape motor on the crew capsule. It’s a small engine located on the bottom of the capsule that can quickly propel the spacecraft up and away from the rocket booster in case there is an emergency during the flight. Blue Origin tested out this motor once before during a test launch in October 2016, fully expecting the motor to destroy the booster. When the motor ignites, it slams the booster with 70,000 pounds of thrust and forceful exhaust. And yet, the booster survived the test, managing to land on the floor of the Texas desert. This time around, Blue Origin plans to ignite the motor at a higher altitude than last time, “pushing the rocket to its limits,” according to the company. It’s unclear how high the ignition will occur, though, and if the booster will survive the test again. No passengers will be flying on this trip, except for Blue Origin’s test dummy, which the company has named Mannequin Skywalker. Mannequin will be riding inside the crew capsule along with numerous science experiments from NASA, commercial companies, and universities. Santa Fe company Solstar, which flew with Blue Origin during its last launch, is going to test out its Wi-Fi access again during the flight. NASA will have a payload designed to take measurements of the conditions inside the capsule throughout the trip, such as temperature, pressure, and acoustics. There’s even a bunch of payloads made by Blue Origin’s employees as part of the company’s own “Fly My Stuff” program. The rocket will carry payloads made by Blue Origin’s employees as part of the company’s “Fly My Stuff” program The rocket going up today is the third New Shepard vehicle that the company has ever flown. The first one flew to a super high altitude in April 2015, but the booster was unable to land back on Earth after flight. The second iteration of the vehicle was much more successful, however. Blue Origin launched and landed the rocket and booster a total of five times before retiring the system. This third New Shepard has already done two launches and landings, and it sports some upgrades over its predecessors. For instance, this one actually has windows in the crew capsule; the second vehicle had its windows painted on. Blue Origin is building even more vehicles to carry passengers, though there isn’t a firm date for when the first crewed flights will occur. The company’s president Rob Meyerson has estimated that the first test passengers could fly as soon as this year, while commercial flights could start in 2019.