In this image from the video released by Blue Origin, the company’s New Shepard rocket lands after a test flight in western Texas on Thursday, January 14, 2021. (Blue Origin via AP)
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company launched a new capsule in space on Thursday to test all the advantages of astronauts before people get settled.
Thursday’s flight with a mannequin called Mannequin Skywalker lasted 10 minutes and reached 66 miles (106 kilometers) above western Texas. Both the New Shepard rocket and the capsule landed successfully.
It was the 14th flight to the peripheries of space for a New Shepard rocket. The first was in 2015.
“The success of this flight puts us a big step closer to flying astronauts,” said launch commentator Ariane Cornell from the company’s headquarters in Kent, Washington. “There will be a lot of fun ahead in 2021.”
Blue Origin plans to launch paying passengers – tourists, scientists and professional astronauts – in brief jumps over the remote desert of western Texas. It is also working on a larger rocket, the New Glenn, which would take off from Cape Canaveral, as well as a lunar module for astronauts under NASA’s Artemis lunar program.
The capsule that fired Thursday featured the latest crew updates: microphones and push-to-talk buttons for the six seats, wall panels to muffle engine noise, a safety alert system and temperature and humidity controls for keep passengers comfortable and large windows free of fog.
In this image from the video provided by Blue Origin, the company’s RSS First Step capsule uses a parachute to land after a test flight in western Texas on Thursday, January 14, 2021. (Blue Origin via AP)
The launch and landing team was reduced because of the pandemic.
New Shepard was named after the first American in space, Alan Shephard. New Glenn honors John Glenn, the first American in orbit.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launches spacecraft higher than ever
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