Since being awarded $22 million from NASA to develop a commercial space vehicle, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has been relatively quiet. There’s been a couple of test flights, one of which didn’t end so well for the water tank-shaped ship, but we haven’t actually gotten to see the New Shepard (a nod to Alan Shepard) in action. Well friends, take a gander after the break to see the reusable, suborbital launch vehicle climb a short distance into the air then gracefully settle back down with the aid its landing thrusters. This particular craft is meant to launch a separate passenger capsule on short suborbital flights, but Blue Origin is also working on an orbital vehicle. But, please, don’t waste any more time — go watch the take off and landing below.
Continue reading Bezos’ New Shepard takes off and escorts itself back to the landing pad (video)
Bezos’ New Shepard takes off and escorts itself back to the landing pad (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Nov 2011 02:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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