Blue Origin's New Shepard Rocket And Capsule Landed Successfully In Texas (Video)

Some expected the Blue Origin's New Shephard would break down in the desert of Texas. In contrast, the suborbital vehicle landed successfully in a West Texas desert during its flight safety test.

 The launch test aims to examine the capsule escape plan, which is conceptualized to return the passengers and scientific experiments on board safety in case the rocket booster failed. Blue Origin began the escape system about 45 seconds after its takeoff on October 5. This has caused the rocket motor to ignite beneath the New Shepard's crew capsule, which is the part that carries passengers. Then, the motor successfully carried the capsule upward from the rest of the rocket. Meanwhile, the capsule's parachutes were positioned and lowered the vehicle gently down to the ground of the desert, according to The Verge.

The billionaire Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin said that about 45 seconds after liftoff at about 16,000 feet (5,000 meters), they intentionally command escape. He further said that redundant separation systems will separate the crew capsule from the booster at the same time they ignite the escape motor, as noted by Christian Science Monitor.

He added that the system had been tested on the ground. On the other hand, this was the first air-test and Blue Origin has programmed the capsule to deploy at the most stressful point in the launch. He also said that they would throw a party in celebration of the vehicle's successful landing.

This New Shepard will not be reused and would stay in the museum. The future New Shepard vehicles aim to send passengers into the outer space, wherein they can float in few minutes. The capsule could carry up to six people and the booster will carry the capsule up to 62 miles above the Earth's surface, which is the boundary of the outer space. Once reached this boundary, the capsule split from the booster and the two would fall back to earth. Then, the capsule would land down with parachutes while the booster will flare up again its engine and land upright on the stable ground.