Washington: Amazon chief Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin’s rocket successfully completed its 10th uncrewed test flight, bringing NASA-sponsored payloads into sub-orbital space for a few minutes of microgravity testing.
The rocket, called New Shepard, was launched at 10.05 EST from Van Horn, Texas on Wednesday, sending a capsule to heights above 100 kilometres, crossing the space frontier, Xinhua news agency reported.
New Shepard, named after Alan Shepard - the first American to reach space, consists of a reusable rocket and a reusable capsule and is designed for space tourism flights. It carried at least eight NASA-sponsored research and technology payloads to sub-orbital space and back. The mission, that lasted 10 minutes and 15 seconds, reached an altitude of 66 miles (107 kilometres).
“At NASA, technology drives exploration,” NASA chief Jim Bridenstine was quoted as saying by Space.com. He added that there were 10 payloads in all on the flight.
Blue Origin is also competing directly with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the sub-orbital space tourism market. (IANS)