Blue Origin rocket completes another launch and landing
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029717
Wired : On 2 April, private aerospace company Blue Origin completed another successful launch of its New Shepard reusable spacecraft. This time the company was testing its BE-3 engine, which needs to start fast and provide high thrust in order to slow the craft as it returns for landing. After soaring to a height of 103 km, the rocket returned to its launch site in western Texas, where the BE-3 kicked in 1000 m—and just 6 seconds—above the ground and slowed the craft to less than 5 mph for landing. If future test flights are as successful as this one, Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos says the company could start offering suborbital tourist spaceflights on New Shepard as early as 2018.
