Blue Origin successfully launched and recovered its New Shepard booster
Blue Origin’s 24th mission was a success. After its New Shepard rocket took off from West Texas on Tuesday morning, the booster and crew capsule safely separated mid-flight, with both landing back on Earth.
Liftoff occurs around 25:44 in the livestream and from there, you can see New Shepard propel to a maximum altitude of about 66 miles, allowing the uncrewed capsule to spend a short time in space. The reusable booster lands upright at 33:00 following the brief trip, and the capsule comes parachuting down after.
While Blue Origin originally planned on a December 18th flight, the Jeff Bezos-owned space tourism company scrubbed the launch due to cold temperatures and “ground issues” its teams had to troubleshoot. The NS-24 mission carried...