Washington (Agence Francis Presse) – Two months after the breakthrough launch and vertical landing of a reusable rocket, the space firm created by Internet entrepreneur Jeff Bezos did it again.
The company, Blue Origin, said Saturday that the same New Shepard booster which blasted off and landed in November had repeated the feat, hitting an altitude of 333,000 feet (101 kilometers) before “gently” returning to Earth.
A video released by Blue Origin showed the launch and landing from the Texas site, with the rocket slowed to three miles per hour (five kilometers per hour) on its descent with the assistance of parachutes.
The breakthroughs by Blue Origin and parallel efforts by rival Internet mogul Elon Musk’s SpaceX open up the potential for cutting costs for space travel and making rockets as reusable as airplanes.