Mary-Louise Hoffman
Blue Orgin‘s New Shepard rocket technology has completed a launch and landing process during an unmanned flight test Monday at a private range in West Texas, Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos wrote in a blog entry posted after the exercise.
He said New Shepard flew at a high altitude through 119 miles per hour crosswinds before the system reignited a BE-3 engine to help the rocket slowly descend to its launch pad.
An initial developmental test flight of New Shepard in April failed to recover the rocket’s propulsion module after its hydraulic system lost pressure on descent, according to Bezos, also Amazon.com‘s founder.
Blue Origin is also working with Boeing–Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance to develop a BE-4 engine for ULA’s Vulcan rocket as part of a component reusability effort.
