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Blue Origin, a space exploration company co-founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is preparing to start passenger flights later this spring, according to a media report.
Thursday’s test of the New Shepard rocket was one of the “last remaining steps” before a crew flew into space. The test flight, the fourteenth of the New Shepard, was the first of two “stable configuration” test flights, with the second – which will include loading and unloading of the crew – to happen in late February.
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)
If both tests are successful, a flight with a crew may take place as early as April, according to CNBC, which released the news for the first time.
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A Blue Origin spokesman told FOX Business that the reported moment was “rumor and speculation”.
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)
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Regardless of the moment, Blue Origin will launch paying customers at altitudes above 340,000 feet in zero gravity for several minutes, before returning them to Earth.
The news comes after Blue Origin tested its New Shepard spacecraft on Thursday.
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 company tweeted an image of the launch, which it called “success”.
“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, Wash. “There will be a lot of fun in 2021.”
Thursday’s test flight had a series of updates, including microphones and push-to-talk buttons for the six seats, as well as wall panels to muffle engine noise, a safety alert system and temperature controls and humidity.
In September, Blue Origin made its 13th trip into space using a reusable New Shepard rocket for the seventh time.
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Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 and financed the company in part through the sale of his personal shares on Amazon in recent years. The company is considered a direct competitor to the private space initiative of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, SpaceX.
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Thomas Barabbi, Lucas Manfredi and the FOX Business Associated Press contributed to this story.